The Ensemble Modern, celebrating this year the double anniversary of its 40th birthday and the 20th anniversary of its audiovisual subsidiary (the Ensemble Modern Medien), is not one to rest on its laurels.
Though they may be at the heart of an entire repertoire, ranging from from Heiner Goebbels to Steve Reich and Frank Zappa, which would allow them today to focus solely on their (glorious) past, the ensemble still and always strives to spark the unheard and the surprising.
2020 has proven itself to be the ideal year in this regard, for better and for worse: it seems therefore natural that the Frankfurt Ensemble, in the footsteps of its first public events in 1980, in the
Mozart-Saal of the Alte Oper, adds the final touch. This conclusion will fittingly take the of a sound advent calendar with the themes ›Winter - Weihnachten - Zeremonie‹ (Winter – Christmas – Ceremony) and dozens of miniatures (1 to 2 minutes in length) previously recorded and presented live as a world premiere on 9 December.
Conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, former member of the Ensemble and the ensemble’s current conductor that we all know, we will have the pleasure of discovering the premieres of
Georges Aperghis, Pascal Dusapin, and
Philippe Manoury, three exceptional composers
alongside fellow Universal Music Publishing Classical composers Michael Gordon (Ricordi New-York), Heiner Goebbels, Georg Friedrich Haas, Olga Neuwirth, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Enno Poppe (Ricordi Berlin) and many of their most eminent colleagues (from Wolfgang Rihm to Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino and George Benjamin), all gathered for the occasion.
Once again during the past forty years, history is being written in Frankfurt.
Georges Aperghis - Winterfeste
For ensemble
World premiere : 9 December2020 - Digital broadcast
Mozart-Saal de l'Alte Oper - Francfurt
Ensemble Modern
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
Pascal Dusapin - Gemeinsam
For ensemble
World premiere : 9 December2020 - Digital broadcast
Mozart-Saal de l'Alte Oper - Francfurt
Ensemble Modern
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
Philippe Manoury - Erinnerungen
For ensemble
World premiere : 9 December2020 - Digital broadcast
Mozart-Saal de l'Alte Oper - Francfurt
Ensemble Modern
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
Michael Gordon - Confetti*
For ensemble
World premiere : 9 December2020 - Digital broadcast
Mozart-Saal de l'Alte Oper - Francfurt
Ensemble Modern
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
More information...
Watch the video of the full concert below:
Listen to the recordings of the works :
* Published by Ricordi New-York