Ensemble intercontemporain Embarks on U.S. Tour This November, with Concerts and Educational Residencies on Both Coasts (Nov 6–15)
In 2009, when Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) last performed in the U.S., the New York Times called the experience “revelatory,” observing: “All these performances, it almost goes without saying, had a nearly supernatural precision and finesse.” Now, for the first time in six years, the Grammy Award-winning Parisian ensemble returns to the States to make its inaugural American appearances under the musical directorship of composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher. In residencies on both coasts – at Cal Performances at California’s UC Berkeley (Nov 6 & 7) and Carolina Performing Arts at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Nov 10 & 11) – and in concerts at Washington’s Library of Congress (Nov 13) and Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (Nov 15), the “perennially razor-sharp new-music group” (New Yorker) presents a range of the 20th- and 21st-century repertoire – including a number of world and U.S. premieres – in which it remains the international benchmark for excellence.
Click here for a short video introduction to EIC.
As Music Director Matthias Pintscher explains:
“Thanks to my ties on both sides of the Atlantic, I have become a musical ambassador for the United States in Europe and vice versa. It is important to me that we develop our activities in the States. Of course we have already given concerts there, but only sporadically. This time we make the trip with several programs; they paint our portrait, combining our heritage with the new paths that we intend to take.”
Participating in the creation of new works is a core component of EIC’s mission. At the Library of Congress, the group presents the world premieres of Pintscher’s Now II for cello – part of his Profiles of Light cycle, which will be heard in its entirety for the first time – and a new composition from award-winning Yale-based composer Hannah Lash (Nov 13). At Berkeley, EIC gives the U.S. premiere of We met as Sparks, a new work for bass flute, clarinet, double bass, viola, and cello by Berkeley’s own Franck Bedrossian (Nov 6). And, after giving its world premiere at the new Paris Philharmonie last month, the ensemble looks forward to presenting the U.S. premiere performances of a new interdisciplinary EIC commission titled Cluster.X. An original collaboration between audiovisual artist and composer Kurt Hentschläger and Berkeley composition professor and composer Edmund Campion, this multimedia creation makes its American debut during the EIC’s residencies at Berkeley (Nov 6) and Chapel Hill (Nov 10). Click here to see a video of previous CLUSTER productions.
On today’s contemporary music scene, EIC is the only ensemble to perform in every combination. Thus its tour program embraces the complete spectrum, from solos and duets to works for mid-sized and full ensemble. These include Pintscher’s beyond (a system of passing) for solo flute (Nov 7 & 11); his Profiles of Light cycle, a triptych for solo piano, solo cello, and cello and piano duo (Nov 13); Olga Neuwirth’s torsion for solo bassoon (Nov 10); Marco Stroppa’s duet for two horns, gla-dya, performed by the two EIC members for whom it was written (Nov 6 & 10); Berg’s iconic Chamber Concerto for piano, violin, and 13 winds (Nov 13); and Pintscher’s bereshit for 29 musicians, which the New York Times calls “mesmerizing and sophisticated” (Nov 7 & 11).
EIC remains as dedicated to disseminating the classics of 20th-century composition as to pioneering today’s new music. Besides including such modern masterpieces as Varèse’s Octandre (Nov 7, 11 & 13) and Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto (Nov 13), the U.S. tour showcases the work of EIC’s founding father, Pierre Boulez. It is the great French radical’s sur Incises that concludes the second of both the Berkeley and Chapel Hill performances (Nov 7 & 11), and whose correspondence with American experimentalist John Cage provides the inspiration for the ensemble’s program at Boston’s ICA (Nov 15). Comprising works by the two composers dating from the years of their mid-century correspondence, interspersed with readings from the letters themselves, EIC’s final concert pays tribute to America’s 20th-century legacy as well as to the ensemble’s own origins, thereby drawing the tour to an especially fitting close.
Driven by a profound commitment to education and transmission, EIC’s two upcoming university residencies and concerts not only feature the musical events listed below, but also full programs of talks, workshops, masterclasses, and readings of student compositions, offering young musicians and a wider audience the chance to benefit from the group members’ extensive and intimate knowledge. Combining concert performances with educational activities, EIC’s new tour format is one that the ensemble looks forward to revisiting worldwide.
About Ensemble intercontemporain and Matthias Pintscher
Founded in 1976 by Pierre Boulez, Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is composed of 31 soloists who share a passion for 20th- and 21st-century music. Together they work in close collaboration with living composers, exploring instrumental techniques and developing new and multidisciplinary projects. With the Orchestre de Paris, EIC is one of the two ensembles in residence at the new Paris Philharmonie. Now entering his third season as Music Director of EIC, composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher also serves Principal Conductor Designate of the Lucerne Festival Academy, Artist-in-Association of the BBC Scottish Symphony, and Artist-in-Residence of the Danish National Symphony. He joined the composition faculty of New York’s Juilliard School in 2014.
High-resolution photos may be downloaded here.
Ensemble intercontemporain’s American tour is sponsored by the City of Paris and the Institut Français.
Cluster.X has been supported by FACE contemporary Music Fund, a program of FACE with major support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, Institut Français, the Florence Gould Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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Ensemble intercontemporain
Music director: Matthias Pintscher
U.S. tour, November 2015
Nov 6 at 8pm
Berkeley, CA
UC Berkeley
Cal Performances, Zellerbach Auditorium (Hertz Hall)
Marco STROPPA: gla-dya, études sur les rayonnements jumeaux for two horns
Franck BEDROSSIAN: We met as Sparks for bass flute, clarinet, double bass, viola, and cello (U.S. premiere)
Beat FURRER: linea dell’orizzonte for ensemble
Kurt Hentschläger / Edmund Campion: CLUSTER.X (U.S. premiere of EIC commission)
Nov 7 at 8pm
Berkeley, CA
UC Berkeley
Cal Performances, Zellerbach Auditorium (Hertz Hall)
Edgard VARÈSE: Octandre for eight instruments
Matthias PINTSCHER: bereshit for large ensemble
Matthias PINTSCHER: beyond (a system of passing) for flute (with Sophie Cherrier, flute)
Pierre BOULEZ: sur Incises for three pianos, three harps, and three percussion-keyboards
Nov 10 at 7:30pm
Chapel Hill, NC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Memorial Hall
Marco STROPPA: gla-dya, études sur les rayonnements jumeaux for two horns
Olga NEUWIRTH: torsion for bassoon (with Paul Riveaux, bassoon)
Beat FURRER: linea dell’orizzonte for ensemble
Kurt Hentschläger / Edmund Campion: CLUSTER.X
Nov 11 at 7:30pm
Chapel Hill, NC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Memorial Hall
Edgard VARÈSE : Octandre for eight instruments
Matthias PINTSCHER: bereshit for large ensemble
Matthias PINTSCHER: beyond (a system of passing) for flute (with Sophie Cherrier, flute)
Pierre BOULEZ: sur Incises for three pianos, three harps, and three percussion-keyboards
Nov 13 at 7:30pm
Washington, DC
Library of Congress
Hannah LASH: New work for violin and piano (world premiere of Library of Congress’s McKim Fund commission)
Edgard VARÈSE: Octandre for eight instruments
Matthias PINTSCHER: Profiles of Light cycle
Now I for piano
Now II for cello (world premiere of Moritzburg Festival/Library of Congress’ Dina Koston & Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music commission)
Uriel for cello and piano
György LIGETI: Chamber Concerto for 13 instrumentalists
Alban BERG: Chamber Concerto for piano and violin with 13 wind instruments
(With Dimitri Vassilakis, piano, Eric-Maria Couturier, cello, Hideki Nagano, piano, and Diego Tosi, violin)
Nov 15 at 2pm
Boston, MA
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
Pierre BOULEZ: Second Piano Sonata (excerpts)
Pierre BOULEZ: Livre pour quatuor for string quartet (excerpts)
Pierre BOULEZ: 12 Notations for piano (excerpts)
John CAGE: Music of Changes for piano (excerpts)
John CAGE: Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano (extracts)
John CAGE: Six Melodies for violin and piano (extracts)
John CAGE: String Quartet in Four Parts (excerpts)
(with Dimitri Vassilakis, piano, Hae-Sun Kang, Diego Tosi, violins, John Stulz, viola, Eric-Maria Couturier, cello, Damon Krukowski, reader)
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© 21C Media Group, October 2015