Ensemble intercontemporain

The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music.^[1]Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose.

The EIC consists of thirty one full-time soloists in various instruments.^[2][3] They exist to fill a need for musicians who can work with new playing techniques and composition styles prevalent in this kind of music.^[4] The Ensemble is resident at the Philharmonie de Paris, under its current artistic director Matthias Pintscher.^[2][5] with their activities financed by the French Ministry of Culture and the city of Paris.^[6]

The EIC performs about thirty times a year in their home city,^[7] and tour extensively both in France and abroad, especially at international festivals.^[6] These concerts regularly include the premieres of new compositions, often commissioned by the Ensemble itself, which gives preference to young composers who have not yet had their work performed by the organization.^[3][7] The Ensemble has over 2,000 contemporary works in their repertoire, much of which has been recorded and includes composers such as Elliott Carter, Luigi Dallapiccola, Luciano Berio, along with the complete works of Boulez, György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Alejandro Romero, George Benjamin, Roberto Carnevale and Ivan Fedele.^[5][6]

Their support for composers goes beyond playing their work in public and includes collaborating with composers both in the creation and interpretation processes. One reason for this is that the techniques and composition style of contemporary music is significantly different from classical music, and composer notation systems vary, especially with the indications of these new techniques.^[3][7]

The Ensemble also supports young musicians which includes workshops at schools, master classes and more for conservatory students, professional and amateur musicians and training for conductors and composers. Since 2004, individual members have been tutoring young instrumentalists, conductors and composers in contemporary music as part of the Lucerne Festival Academy (Lucerne Festival). In addition, they collaborate with other kinds of artists from the fields of dance, theater, video and visual arts.^[3] The organization collaborates regularly with the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Institute of Acoustic Music Research and Coordination) which sponsors research and concerts to showcase technological innovations in composition.^[3][7]

The Ensemble intercontemporain was founded in 1976 by composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, with the support of French Minister of Culture Michel Guy and the collaboration of Nicholas Snowman,^[3][8] in order to provide performers for contemporary chamber music.^[1][4]

The idea for the Ensemble came from Boulez's experiences as part of the historical avant garde of Darmstadt, Germany, in the 1950s, contemporary of Stockhausen, Berio, Ligeti and Nono. He began his career as a composer in contemporary music, moving onto conducting orchestras such as New York Philharmonic (1971–1978) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1971–1975). He states that his first love is composition and noted the lack of venues to premiere and promote new music, so he created the Ensemble for playing and producing music, along with IRCAM, Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique for academic work into the same field.^[4]

Seit 1995 hat das Ensemble seinen Sitz in der Cité de la Musique (seit 2015 Teil der Philharmonie de Paris ). ^{[ 1 ] [ 3 ]} Boulez war Präsident, ^{[ 9 ]} und Péter Eötvös wurde 1979 von Boulez zum ersten musikalischen Leiter ernannt. ^{[ 10 ]} Die nachfolgenden musikalischen Leiter des EIC waren David Robertson (1992–2000), Jonathan Nott (2000–2003), Susanna Mälkki (2006–2013) und Matthias Pintscher (2013–2023). ^{[ 1 ] [ 7 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ]} Mälkki war die erste weibliche musikalische Leiterin des EIC. Pintscher wird seine Amtszeit als musikalischer Leiter des EIC voraussichtlich mit dem Ende der Saison 2022/23 beenden. Im Dezember 2021 gab das EIC die Ernennung von Pierre Bleuse zum neuen Musikdirektor mit Wirkung zur Saison 2023–2024 und einer anfänglichen Vertragslaufzeit von 4 Jahren bekannt. ^{[ 13 ]}

Das Ensemble hat ausgiebig in Südamerika, Russland, Kanada, den USA, Japan, Neuseeland, Australien und den meisten europäischen Großstädten getourt. ^{[ 7 ]} Zu den jüngsten Auftritten zählen die Nationale Autonome Universität von Mexiko und der Palacio de Bellas Artes (2007), ^{[ 6 ]} Buenos Aires (2012), ^{[ 14 ]} das Festival Internacional Cervantino (2014) ^{[ 5 ] [ 15 ]} sowie ein Konzert im Barbican Centre in London anlässlich des 90. Geburtstags von Pierre Boulez . ^{[ 8 ] [ 16 ]}

Das EIC hat für zahlreiche Labels aufgenommen, darunter Deutsche Grammophon (Musik von Ligeti, Alban Berg , Arnold Schönberg , Boulez ^{[ 17 ]} und Unsuk Chin ^{[ 18 ]} ) und KAIROS (Musik von Alberto Posadas , Matthias Pintscher [ ^{19 ] ,} Luca Francesconi , Philippe Manoury und Michael Jarrell ). Die Aufnahmen des EIC wurden mehrfach ausgezeichnet, unter anderem mit dem Gramophone Award und dem Diapason d’Or.

• 2014:
  • Amir Shpilman , Iridescent Stasis ^{[ 20 ] [ 21 ]}
• 2013:
  • Matthias Pintscher , Bereshit ^{[ 22 ]}
  • Philippe Leroux , Totalsolo ^{[ 23 ]}
• 2012:
  • Ondřej Adámek , Kameny ^{[ 24 ]}
  • Enno Poppe , Speicher III und Speicher IV ^{[ 25 ]}
  • Luc Brewaeys , Fête à tensions
  • Lu Wang, Vergangenheit jenseits ^{[ 26 ]}
  • Anthony Cheung , Dystemporal ^{[ 27 ] [ 28 ]}
  • Einar Torfi Einarsson, Wunschmaschinen ^{[ 29 ]}
• 2011:
  • Marco Stroppa , Re orso ^{[ 30 ]}
  • Sean Shepherd , Blur ^{[ 31 ]}
  • Bernhard Gander , Nimm neun für zwölf ^{[ 32 ]}
  • Johannes Maria Staud , Par ici! ^{[ 33 ]}
  • Jacques Rebotier , RAS ^{[ 34 ]}
  • François Sarhan , Talea II ^{[ 35 ]}
• 2010:
  • Michael Jarrell , La chambre aux échos ^{[ 36 ]}
  • Hèctor Parra , Caressant l'horizon ^{[ 37 ]}
  • Lucas Fagin , Lanterna magica ^{[ 38 ]}
  • Yann Robin , Vulcano ^{[ 39 ]}

• Offizielle Website