Ensemble Modern
© Wonge Bergmann
The Ensemble Modern is one of the best known groups for modern music. Founded in 1980, and based in Frankfurt, they currently number 18 soloists who all work together organising everything in a democratic way. Their aesthetic embraces all kinds of music and dance, multi-media, chamber music, ensemble and orchestral works. Tours and invitations have taken the Ensemble Modern to leading festivals around the world and important national and international venues. They study roughly 70 pieces every year, including about 20 world premieres, some of which they have commissioned themselves. They normally work closely with composers when rehearsing a work, which gives rise to close relationships being established with people including Vito Žuraj, John Adams, Mark Andre, George Benjamin, Unsuk Chin, Peter Eötvös, Brian Ferneyhough, Heiner Goebbels, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Cathy Milliken, Brigitta Muntendorf, Olga Neuwirth, Enno Poppe, Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, Rebecca Saunders, Iris ter Schiphorst, Simon Steen-Andersen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Frank Zappa and Hans Zender, and outstanding figures from other walks of musical life. The Ensemble Modern has had its own label »Ensemble Modern Medien« since 2020 and more than 150 recordings have been released by other highly respected companies. They founded the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) in 2003, to further their educational dreams and have collaborated with Oper Frankfurt for many years on the wonderful series of concerts: Happy New Ears.