Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries.

History

Ensemble Modern was founded in 1980 by members of the

Junge Deutsche Philharmonie The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (''Young German Philharmonic'', JDPh) is one of the national youth orchestras of Germany. Unlike the Bundesjugendorchester, which is composed of pre-university students aged 14–19, the Junge Deutsche Philharmon ...

. From the beginning, the ensemble chose to organize itself democratically. There is no artistic director or chief conductor; instead, all projects, productions and financial matters are decided and supported by the musicians directly. Currently, the ensemble combines 19 soloists from different backgrounds: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Since 1985, Ensemble Modern has been based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. They offer a subscription series at the

Alte Oper Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city, Innenstadt, within the banking district Bankenviertel. Today's Alte Oper was built in 1880 as the city's opera house, which was destro ...

Frankfurt, host regular opera productions in cooperation with the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

. Since 1993, the Opera has held the "Happy New Ears" workshop series in which composers are invited to present and discuss their works. The programmatic scope of the ensemble includes music theater, chamber music, orchestral music, as well as dance and video projects. Over the years, Ensemble Modern has had significant collaborations with many composers, including

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, George Benjamin,

Hans Zender Johannes Wolfgang Zender (22 November 1936 – 22 October 2019) was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festival ...

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 ...

Heiner Goebbels Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge ...

Friedrich Goldmann Friedrich Goldmann (27 April 1941 – 24 July 2009) was a German composer and conductor. Life Born on 27 April 1941 in Siegmar-Schönau (since July 1951 incorporated into Chemnitz), Goldmann's music education began in 1951 when he joined the Dr ...

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...

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 ...

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" ...

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

. Each year, Ensemble Modern gives approximately 100 concerts and an average of 70 new works, including about 20 premieres. The ensemble was declared a "Leuchtturm" or "Beacon" of contemporary culture in Germany by the German Federal Cultural Foundation in 2003. Various tours have taken the group to Africa, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, South America, Taiwan, Russia and the United States. It is regularly represented at major festivals, including inter alia, the Salzburg Festival,

Klangspuren Klangspuren, also Klangspuren Schwaz, subtitled Tiroler Festival für Neue Musik, is an annual festival for contemporary music in Schwaz in Tyrol, founded in 1994. The title literally translates to "traces of sound". It commissioned around 200 or ...

Schwaz Schwaz () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district. Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley. Location Schwaz lies in the middle of the Lower Inn Valley at the foot of the Kellerjoch and ...

, the Berliner Festspiele, the Lucerne Festival, the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the Festival Ars Musica in Brussels. In 2003, the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) was founded. The Academy, in conjunction with the

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (german: Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, italic=no, link=no, HfMDK) is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its k ...

(HfMDK), offers a one-year master's degree to composers, conductors, instrumentalists, and sound engineers. Additionally, IEMA provides scholarships, master classes, and various outreach programs.

Members

Members of the Ensemble Modern are: * Saar Berger (horn) * Eva Böcker (cello) * Jaan Bossier (clarinet) * Paul Cannon (double bass) * Uwe Dierksen (trombone) * David Haller (percussion) * Christian Hommel (oboe) * Megumi Kasakawa (viola) * Michael M. Kasper (cello) * Hermann Kretzschmar (piano) * Jagdish Mistry (violin) * Norbert Ommer (sound director) * Giorgos Panagiotidis (violin) * Rainer Römer (percussion) * Johannes Schwarz (bassoon) * Sava Stoianov (trumpet) * Dietmar Wiesner (flute) *

Ueli Wiget Ueli Wiget (born 1957 in Winterthur) is a Swiss pianist, harpsichordist and harpist. He was prized at the 1985 Sydney Competition. Since 1986 Wiget is a member of the Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to perf ...

(piano) Their current chief manager is Christian Fausch. Former members include

Ingo Metzmacher Ingo Metzmacher (born 10 November 1957 in Hanover) is a German conductor and artistic director of the festival KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover. Life Ingo Metzmacher is the son of the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher and the research biolo ...

(piano),

Peter Rundel Peter Rundel (born 1958 in Friedrichshafen), is a German violinist and conductor. A recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque in 1998 for his recording of Jean Barraqué's complete works, he became conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flan ...

(violin) and Franck Ollu (horn), now prominent conductors.

Discography

Ensemble Modern is credited on over 170 recordings. Notable examples include: * 1989:

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...

: '' 2 Compositions (Ensemble) 1989/1991'' (hatART CD 6086) * 1993: Frank Zappa: ''

The Yellow Shark ''The Yellow Shark'' is an album of orchestral music by American musician Frank Zappa. Released in November 1993, it was the last Zappa album released in his lifetime, almost exactly a month before he died of the cancer from which he had suffered ...

'' (Barking Pumpkin Records 21160572) * 1993: Mauricio Kagel: ''Exotica'' (MusiKado AUL 66099) * 1993:

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American- Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

: ''Studies'' (RCA/BMG 09026 61180 2) * 1995:

: ''Schuberts

Winterreise ''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert ( D. 911, published as Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two song cycles on Müller' ...

'' (RCA/BMG 09026 68067 2) * 1996:

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...

: ''Blood on the Floor'' (DVD) (Arthaus Musik 100 430) * 1997:

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

: ''The Piano Concerts'' (mode 57) * 1998:

: ''Music For 18 Musicians'' (RCM/BMG 09026 68672 2) * 1998:

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...

: ''Roaring Eisler'' (RCA/BMG 74321 56882 2) * 1999:

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

: ''Fourth Symphony'' (EM Medien EMCD-001) * 1999:

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

: ''

Die Dreigroschenoper ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

'' (RCA/BMG 74321 6464 2) * 2000: George Benjamin: ''Sudden Time/Three Inventions/Viola, Viola'' (Nimbus Records NI 5732) * 2000:

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

Traffic Continues ''Traffic Continues'' is an album by composer and guitarist Fred Frith featuring the Ensemble Modern, Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori, which was released on the Winter & Winter label. The album features a suite dedicated to cellist Tom Cora built arou ...

(Winter & Winter 910 044-2) * 2001:

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

: ''Sinfonie Nr. 5'' (BMC Records BMC CD 063) * 2001: Emmanuel Nunes: ''Quodlibet'' (Montaigne 782055) * 2002: Heiner Goebbels: ''Eislermaterial'' (ECM Records 1779 461 648-2) * 2002: Helmut Lachenmann: ''Schwankungen am Rand'' (ECM Records 1798 461949-2) * 2002: Steve Reich: ''City Life/New York Counterpoint/Eight Lines/Violin Phase'' (RCA/BMG 74321 66459 2) * 2003: Frank Zappa: '' Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions'' (RCA Records 82876 56061 2 RCA Red Seal) * 2006:

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

: ''For Samuel Beckett'' (HatHutRecords hat owRT 142) * 2006:

: ''Complete Choral Works'' (Hänssler Klassik CD 93.174) * 2007:

: ''NUN'' (EM Medien EMCD-004) * 2007: Helmut Lachenmann: ''Concertini/Kontrakadenz'' (EM Medien EMSACD-001) * 2007: Steve Reich: ''City Life'' (DVD) (WMG B000O17184) * 2008: Heiner Goebbels: ''Schwarz auf Weiß'' (DVD) (WERGO NZ71) * 2008: George Benjamin: ''Into the Little Hill'' (Nimbus Records NI5828) * 2009:

Alva Noto Carsten Nicolai (18 September 1965), also known as Alva Noto, is a German musician and visual artist. He is a member of the music groups Diamond Version with Olaf Bender (Byetone), Signal with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, Cyclo with Ryo ...

: utp_ (DVD) (Raster Noton r-n096) * 2011: ''Ensemble Modern –

Ernest Bour Ernest Bour (20 April 1913 - 20 June 2001) was a noted conductor. Born in Thionville, Moselle (in north-eastern Lorraine, then part of Germany), Bour studied at both the University and the Conservatoire of Strasbourg. His conducting teachers inc ...

'' (EM Medien EMCD-017) * 2012:

and

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. Biography Early life Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. H ...

: ''Bartók / Eötvös / Ligeti'' (Naïve V 5285) * 2013: Hans Zender: ''33 Veränderungen über 33 Veränderungen'' (EM Medien EMCD-020) * 2019: Frederic D'Haene: ''Music with silent aitake's'' by Ensemble Modern and Reigakusha gagaku Ensemble (Parma Recordings) * 2020: ''Beschenkt: 40 Miniaturen zum Jubiläum'' (EM Medien EMCD-048/49)

Awards

*1985: Prize of the French foreign minister on the occasion of the European Year of Music *1987: Prize of the Critics of "Verband der Komponisten und Musikwissenschaftler der DDR" for excellent interpretation during the Music Biennale in Berlin *1987: The German Record Critics' Award, Quarterly Critics' Choice 4/1987:

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

– "umsungen",

Peter Ruzicka Peter Ruzicka (born 3 July 1948) is a German composer and conductor of classical music. He was director of the Hamburg State Opera, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamburg and the Salzburg Festival. Ruzicka was managing director and Intendant of ...

– "...der die Gesänge zerschlug" (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Ernest Bour, conductor) *1987:

Schneider-Schott Music Prize The Schneider-Schott Music Prize is a cash award bestowed to an outstanding composer, performing artist, or music ensemble in classical music—with emphasis, but not mandatory, on contemporary music. From 1986 to 2006, the prize was awarded annu ...

Mainz *1989: Berlin Prize of the Critics of the "Verband deutscher Kritiker" in the category of music, awards ceremony at the Academy of the Arts *1992: "Hessischer Kulturpreis" 1992 from the state of Hesse in the category "cultural mediation" for the interpretation of modern music *1993: The German Record Critics' Award, Quarterly Critics' Choice 4/1993: György Kurtág – ''Song Cycles'' (Ensemble Modern/Peter Eötvös) *1993:

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nomination.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

nominates the CD "Ives: A Portrait of Charles Ives" of the Ensemble Modern and Ingo Metzmacher as the best orchestral recording *1994: "Kunstpreis Berlin" – Jubiläumsstiftung 1848/1948 *1994: Förderpreis Musik, awards ceremony at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin *1995: Stern der Woche, ''Abendzeitung'', for the week 19–26 May 1995, Ensemble Modern under the direction of Peter Eötvös in the course of Dance 95 (Muffathalle, Munich) *1996: 1st "Binding Culture Prize" *1997: Grammy Nomination (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) for best small ensemble performance for: "John Adams: Chamber Symphony/Shaker Loops/Phrygian Gates" (Sian Edwards, conductor) *1997: ECHO: German Record Award. Ensemble of the year with the recording "Fighting the waves" of George Antheil under the direction of

HK Gruber Heinz Karl "Nali" Gruber (born 3 January 1943), who styles himself HK Gruber professionally, is an Austrian composer, conductor, double bass player and singer. He is a leading figure of the so-called Third Viennese School. Career Gruber is said to ...

*1998: Prize of the Spanish theatre critics "best foreign production" 1998 for ›Black on White‹ by Heiner Goebbels *2000: The German Record Critics' Award – Quarterly Critics' Choice 1/2000: ''Threepenny Opera'' by Kurt Weill conducted by HK Gruber *2000: 3rd prize of ›Scala‹ magazine in the category ›crossover vocal work‹ *2004: ECHO Klassik: German Record Award, in the category "best ensemble / orchestra" and "best recording of chamber music" for the CD ''Ensemble Modern plays Frank Zappa Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions'' *2006: Awarded "Artist of the Year" at Beijing Music Festival *2007: Winner of the Landmarks in the Land of Ideas, Germany, 2007. *2009: The Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie receives the Praetorius Music Prize Lower Saxony in the category "music innovation" *2009: The Siemens AG awarded the ›Kulturförderpreis 2009‹ for "into…", a project of Ensemble Modern and Siemens Arts Program in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut *2014: Grammy nomination (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) for best classical instrumental solo for "Bartók, Eötvös & Ligeti" with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin; Peter Eötvös, conductor (Ensemble Modern & Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) *2021:

Opus Klassik ''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.). Opus or OPUS may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...

: German music prize. "Ensemble / Orchestra of the Year" for the double-CD ''Beschenkt: 40 Miniaturen zum Jubiläum''. Source.

In film

* ''Leidenschaft Neue Musik. Über Vielfalt und Freiheiten im Ensemble Modern.'' (Passion for New Music. On Diversity and Freedom in Ensemble Modern.) Documentary, Germany, 2011, 27:40 Min., Direction: Joachim Meißner und Marion Morawek, Production:

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...

, Series: ''wissen und mehr'', Premiere: 20 March 2012 on hr-Fernsehen
Contents
from ARD
online-Video
available until 10 March 2016. * ''Wenn die Bühne brennt ... Ein Porträt des Ensemble Modern.'' (When the Stage is on Fire... A Portrait of Ensemble Modern.) Documentary, Germany, 2011, 53:20 Min., Direction: Manfred Scheyko, Production: Hessischer Rundfunk,

arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

, Premiere: 5 December 2011 on arte
Contents
from Musik Heute.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles German musical groups Musical groups established in 1980