Die Groupe Lacroix is a Swiss-Austrian composers ensemble.

History

The formation of Groupe Lacroix goes back to a joint

master class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

visit of the founding members to the Russian avant-garde composer

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called "Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. B ...

as part of the

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 ...

at the

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (german: Hochschule Luzern) (HSLU) is one of seven regional, public-funded universities of applied sciences founded in 1997 in its current form. The University was called University of Applied Scienc ...

in Sommer 1993. The group was then joined in autumn 1993 by six well-known Swiss composers in the ''Centre musical de la Fondation Hindemith Chalet de Lacroix'' (today of the . Among the founding members were Michael Baumgartner (who did not become an official member),

John Wolf Brennan John Wolf Brennan (born 13 February 1954) is an Irish pianist, organist, melodica player, and composer based in Weggis, Switzerland. Career Brennan was born in Dublin, Ireland. His family moved to Switzerland when he was seven years old. He ...

from Lucerne,

Jean-Luc Darbellay Jean-Luc Darbellay (born 2 July 1946) is a Swiss composer, conductor, clarinetist and physician. He was chairman of the Swiss Society for New Music and board member of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Darbellay is a member of the ...

from Bern,

Christian Henking Christian Henking (born 14 January 1961) is a Swiss composer, conductor and choir leader. Life Henking was born in Basel in 1961. He graduated from the in 1981. From 1981 to 1989 he studied music theory with Theo Hirsbrunner at the University ...

from Bern, Stephan Sabotta (who did not become an official member) and Michael Schneider from Aarau. In 1994

Marianne Schroeder Marianne Schroeder (born 1949 in Reiden) is a Swiss pianist and composer. She studied with Giacinto Scelsi. She played at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She worked with John Cage and Shigeru Kan-no. She ...

from Basel, 1996

Michael Radanovics Michael Radanovics (born 19 March 1958) is an Austrian violinist (jazz and classic) and composer. Life Born in Steyr, Radanovics passed his school-leaving examination in 1976. He studied violin with Michael Frischenschlager from 1977 to 1985 a ...

from Vienna and 2000

Alfons Karl Zwicker Alfons Karl Zwicker (born 22 April 1952) is a Swiss composer, pianist and painter. Life Born in St. Gallen, Zwicker began as a painter and designer. He created several paintings, which were exhibited between 1973 and 1980. Zwicker then studied p ...

from St. Gallen joined in. In 1999, guest composers were

Marcel Wengler Marcel Wengler (born 20 April 1946) is a Luxembourg composer and conductor. From 1972–1997, he headed the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Since 2000, he has been director of the Luxembourg Music Information Centre. His compositions include symphoni ...

(Luxembourg) and in 2003

Thüring Bräm Thüring Bräm (born 10 April 1944) is a Swiss composer and conductor. Bräm graduated from a high school in Basel. He then studied piano, conducting and composition in Basel and musicology at the University of Basel and the University of Hei ...

, who is also the organiser of the group. Radanowics and Brennan are specialized in

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. Schroeder follows the

Minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two o ...

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 ...

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 ...

Giacinto Scelsi Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, ...

and

Galina Ustvolskaya Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya (russian: Гали́на Ива́новна Уство́льская , 17 June 1919 – 22 December 2006), was a Russian composer of classical music. Early years Born in Petrograd, Ustvolskaya studied from 1937 to 1 ...

. The aim of the group of composers is to establish a joint dialogue. According to their own statements, the core idea is: "that the individuality of artistic expression and the exchange beyond the concert hall and the desk are not only not mutually exclusive, but can also be mutually enriching.Fritz Huser: Booklet-Text, CD The Composer Group, 1997, CW 1030, S. 2. International cooperation took place in Lucerne in 1993, in Moscow in 1995/96 (at the ), in Dublin,

Blonay Blonay () is a former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District, Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. On 1 January 2022 the former municipalities o ...

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

and Lucerne in 1997 and in

Weggis Weggis is a municipality in the district of Lucerne in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It forms part of the northern shore of Lake Lucerne. The official language is German. History In about 800 the monastery of Pfäfers acquired the court ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

in 1999] (at the

MDR Musiksommer The MDR Musiksommer is a music festival involving three federal states of Germany: Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. It started in 1992 with 15 concerts, but grew to more than 104 concerts. The festival is held in July and attracts internation ...

).
Groupe Lacroix, B of I Arts Centre
', in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 2 February 1997.
MDR Musiksommer
', in concert programm, 28 June 1999, . Since the Leipzig concerts there has been an intensive cooperation in a "

Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

-Project“ with the

Ensemble Sortisatio Ensemble Sortisatio is a quartet (viola, oboe/cor anglais, bassoon and guitar) founded by violist Matthias Sannemüller in 1992 in Leipzig, Germany. Its members are mostly soloists at the MDR Symphony Orchestra. They have specialized in contempora ...

Discography

* 1997: ''The Composer Group'' with the

Moscow Rachmaninov Trio The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio is a piano trio that emerged in 1994 from the Moscow Ensemble for Contemporary Music. Its members are Victor Yampolsky (piano), Mikhail Tsinman (violin) and Natalia Savinova (cello). The trio is named after the Russian co ...

(

Creative Works Records Creative Works Records is an independent Swiss record label. History The label ''Creative Works Records'' was founded in 1983 by Mike Wider in Root (canton of Lucerne). Wider, who at that time had helped build up a recording studio in Lucerne a ...

) * 1999: ''Arpiade'' with Barbara Sutter, Béatrice Wolf and Michael Wolf (edition edex) * 2003: ''

8 Pieces on Paul Klee ''8 Pieces on Paul Klee'' is the debut album of the Ensemble Sortisatio. It was recorded in February and March 2002 in Leipzig, Germany and in August 2002 in Lucerne, Switzerland. It was released in 2003 by Creative Works Records. Background Al ...

'' with the Ensemble Sortisatio (Creative Works Records)

References

External links

Groupe Lacroix
at the * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groupe Lacroix Austrian classical music groups Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1993