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The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music.
Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...
founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world.


Organization and purpose

The EIC consists of thirty one full-time soloists in various instruments. They exist to fill a need for musicians who can work with new playing techniques and composition styles prevalent in this kind of music. The Ensemble is resident at the
Philharmonie de Paris The Philharmonie de Paris () ( en, Paris Philharmonic) is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeaste ...
, under its current artistic director Matthias Pintscher and assistant director Julien Leroy, with their activities financed by the French Ministry of Culture and the city of Paris. The EIC performs about thirty times a year in their home city, and tour extensively both in France and abroad, especially at international festivals. These concerts regularly include the premieres of new compositions, often commissioned by the Ensemble itself, which gives preference to young composers who have not yet had their work performed by the organization. The Ensemble has over 2,000 contemporary works in their repertoire, much of which has been recorded and includes composers such as
Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
,
Luigi Dallapiccola Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current Pazin, Croa ...
,
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
, along with the complete works of Boulez,
György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
,
György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. Biography György ...
, Alejandro Romero, George Benjamin,
Roberto Carnevale Roberto Carnevale (born 15 June 1966) is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Biography and career Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended th ...
and
Ivan Fedele Ivan Fedele (born 6 May 1953 in Lecce) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory. Fedele's compositions are published by Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, and many of his works are recorded on Stradivarius Records. Selected works ;S ...
. Their support for composers goes beyond playing their work in public and includes collaborating with composers both in the creation and interpretation processes. One reason for this is that the techniques and composition style of contemporary music is significantly different from classical music, and composer notation systems vary, especially with the indications of these new techniques. The Ensemble also supports young musicians which includes workshops at schools, master classes and more for conservatory students, professional and amateur musicians and training for conductors and composers. Since 2004, individual members have been tutoring young instrumentalists, conductors and composers in contemporary music as part of the
Lucerne Festival Academy The Lucerne Festival Academy is an orchestra-sized educational institution devoted exclusively to the interpretation and performance of contemporary classical music. It has taken place each summer since 2003 in the Swiss city of Lucerne as part of ...
(
Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it current ...
). In addition, they collaborate with other kinds of artists from the fields of dance, theater, video and visual arts. The organization collaborates regularly with the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Institute of Acoustic Music Research and Coordination) which sponsors research and concerts to showcase technological innovations in composition.


History

The Ensemble intercontemporain was founded in 1976 by composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, with the support of French Minister of Cultura Michel Guy and the collaboration of Nicholas Snowman. It is the first permanent contemporary music ensemble, founded to provide performers for contemporary chamber music. The idea for the Ensemble came from Boulez's experiences as part of the historical avant garde of Darmstadt, Germany, in the 1950s, contemporary of Stockhausen, Berio, Ligeti and Nono. He began his career as a composer in contemporary music, moving onto conducting orchestras such as
New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
(1971–1978) and the
BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
(1971–1975). He states that his first love is composition and noted the lack of venues to premiere and promote new music, so he created the Ensemble for playing and producing music, along with
IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...
, for academic work into the same field. The Ensemble was based at the
Cité de la Musique The Cité de la Musique ("City of Music"), also known as Philharmonie 2, is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the Parc de la Villette, 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was designed with the nearby Conservatoire d ...
in Paris from 1995 until 2015, when it moved to the
Philharmonie de Paris The Philharmonie de Paris () ( en, Paris Philharmonic) is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeaste ...
. Boulez held the position of president, with
Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...
becoming the first musical director, appointed by Boulez in 1979. Successive music directors of the EIC have been David Robertson (1992–2000),
Jonathan Nott Jonathan Nott (born 25 December 1962, in Solihull, England) is an English conductor. Biography The son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral, Nott was a music student and choral scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, and also studied singing a ...
(2000–2003), Susanna Mälkki (2006–2013) and
Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. Life and career Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He began his music studies with Giselher Klebe in ...
(2013–present). Mälkki was the first female music director of the EIC. Pintscher is scheduled to conclude his tenure as EIC music director at the close of the 2022-2023 season. In December 2021, the EIC announced the appointment of
Pierre Bleuse Pierre Bleuse (born 6 November 1977) is a French violinist and conductor. Biography Bleuse was born in Boulogne-Billancourt into a family of musicians: his father Marc Bleuse is a composer, his mother Anne Fondeville is an opera singer, his brot ...
as its next music director, effective with the 2023-2024 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. The Ensemble has toured extensively to South America, Russia, Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and most major cities of Europe. Recent performances include the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Palacio de Bellas Artes (2007), Buenos Aires in 2012, the Festival Internacional Cervantino in 2014, and in honor of Pierre Boulez's 90th birthday, a concert at the
Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
in London. The EIC has recorded for a number of labels, including
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
(music of Ligeti,
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
,
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
, Boulez and
Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ko, 진은숙 ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was self-taught piano from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as w ...
), and
KAIROS Kairos ( grc, καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning 'the right, critical, or opportune moment'. In modern Greek, ''kairos'' also means 'weather' or 'time'. It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other bei ...
(music of
Alberto Posadas Alberto Posadas (Valladolid, 1967), is a Spanish composer. Biography Alberto Posadas was born in 1967 in Valladolid where he underwent his first musical education which he then continued in Madrid at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. In 1988 he met ...
and
Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. Life and career Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He began his music studies with Giselher Klebe in ...
),
Luca Francesconi Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Early years Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ''Il ...
,
Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury (born 19 June 1952) is a French composer. Biography Manoury was born in Tulle and began composition studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to ...
and
Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell (born 8 October 1958) is a Swiss composer and academic teacher, whose operas, such as '' Cassandre'', have been performed internationally. Life Born in Geneva, Jarrell studied at the Geneva Conservatoire, and later with Klaus H ...
. Recordings by the EIC have received multiple awards, including the
Gramophone Award The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and refer ...
and the
Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...


Commissions by the Ensemble intercontemporain

* 2014:
Amir Shpilman Amir Shpilman (born December 4, 1980) is an Israeli composer. Education and career Shpilman was born in Tel Aviv where he started his composition studies at the age of 17. After three years in Paris where he studied solfege, harmony piano and c ...
, ''Iridescent Stasis'' * 2013:
Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. Life and career Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He began his music studies with Giselher Klebe in ...
, ''Bereshit'';
Philippe Leroux Philippe Leroux (born 24 September 1959) is a French composer living in Montreal, Quebec, who has been identified as "one of the most important composers in contemporary music." Biography Leroux was born in Boulogne-Billancourt. He studied compo ...
, ''Totalsolo'' * 2012: , ''Kameny'';
Enno Poppe Enno Poppe (born 30 December 1969 in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German composer and conductor of classical music, and an academic teacher. Career Enno Poppe studied composition and conducting at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with ...
, ''Speicher III'' and ''Speicher IV'';
Luc Brewaeys Luc Brewaeys (25 October 1959 in Mortsel, Belgium – 18 December 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium) was a Belgian composer, conductor, pianist and recording producer at the VRT (Flemish Radio & Television). He studied composition with André Laporte in B ...
, ''Fête à tensions''; Lu Wang, ''Past beyond'';
Anthony Cheung Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...
, ''Dystemporal''; Einar Torfi Einarsson, ''Desiring-Machines'' * 2011:
Marco Stroppa Marco Stroppa (born 8 December 1959, in Verona) is an Italian composer who writes computer music as well as music for instruments with live electronics. Biography Marco Stroppa studied piano, composition, choral direction and electronic music at ...
, ''Re orso'';
Sean Shepherd Sean Shepherd is an American composer based in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His work has been performed by major orchestras, ensembles, and performers across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Performances include those with the ...
, ''Blur''; , ''Take nine for twelve'';
Johannes Maria Staud Johannes Maria Staud (born 17 August 1974) is an Austrian composer. Biography Staud was born in Innsbruck and studied with, among others, Brian Ferneyhough and Michael Jarrell (at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna). In 1999/ ...
, ''Par ici!''; , ''R.A.S''; François Sarhan, ''Talea II'' * 2010:
Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell (born 8 October 1958) is a Swiss composer and academic teacher, whose operas, such as '' Cassandre'', have been performed internationally. Life Born in Geneva, Jarrell studied at the Geneva Conservatoire, and later with Klaus H ...
, ''La chambre aux échos''; Hèctor Parra, ''Caressant l'horizon'';
Lucas Fagin Lucas Fagin (born 16 June 1980) is an Argentinian composer and co-founder of – an online library of contemporary music. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lucas Fagin began his musical education as an outsider of the academic world studying compo ...
, ''Lanterna magica''; , ''Vulcano''


References


External links

* {{Authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles French orchestras Gramophone Award winners Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups from Paris Deutsche Grammophon artists 1976 establishments in France Pierre Boulez Erato Records artists