Esbjerg Ensemble  

Since it was founded in 1967, Esbjerg Ensemble has won a prominent position in Danish and European musical life with its unique configuration: piano, wind quintet, string quintet and percussion. The ensemble explores an unusually wide repertoire, from the Baroque to the most contemporary music. Classicists like Mozart, Schubert and Brahms stand side by side with composers like Glinka, Berwald and Spohr. Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Ives, Britten and of course Carl Nielsen are staples of the ensemble’s repertoire, as are famous composers from the period up to the end of our own century like Ligeti, Berio, Henze, Lutoslawski, Rihm, Cage and Glass. The Ensemble’s inventive programming and musical versatility make for enthusiastic audiences, not only for its concert series, which are based at the Performing Arts Centre of Esbjerg, but also in many radio and CD recordings and - not least - in its touring activities. Esbjerg Ensemble plays an important role in contemporary cultural life thanks to its pio-neering work for new music. This is evidenced by the works they commission and the first per-formances they give, as well as the annual composers’ workshop which gives young composers a chance to work at close quarters with the musicians and experience the intensity of the rehearsal room and the concert stage. The cultural role of the ensemble is to encourage and pass on contemporary music that is constantly developing. That they do so with great success can be seen from the large number of works written for Esbjerg Ensemble and at the workshop that is held every spring, where composers are invited to present their music and directly see and hear exciting chamber music in rehearsals and concerts.