New European Ensemble is an ensemble, currently based in the Netherlands, that specializes in contemporary music.

About

New European Ensemble was founded in 2008 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. The group is made up of young soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral leaders from across Europe. The ensemble has received numerous accolades in the international press for its ‘contagious enthusiasm’ ( Nutida Musik) and ‘excellent’ (

Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...

) performances. The group has performed in most of the Netherlands' major concert halls including

Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (English: "Music Building on the IJ") is the main concert hall for contemporary classical music on the IJ in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The building opened in 2005 and is located above the IJtunnel, a ten-minute walk from A ...

Amsterdam, Dr. Anton Philipszaal Den Haag and

De Doelen De Doelen is a concert venue and convention centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1934 but then destroyed in 1940 during the German bombardment of Rotterdam in May 1940 at the outset of World War II. It was rebuilt in 19 ...

Rotterdam. In 2010 the ensemble toured Sweden for the first time starting in Västerås Concerthall with subsequent performances in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. In June/July 2011 they performed for the first time in the UK. In November 2011 New European Ensemble was featured on Dutch National TV in the programme NTR Podium where they performed Joey Roukens's piec
Mad Men
The Swedish conductor Christian Karlsen was during 2009 until 2014 its artistic director.

Collaboration with Amnesty International

In 2009, the New European Ensemble mounted a collaboration project together with Amnesty International for a performance of Hans Werner Henze's monumental song cycle '' Voices''. In this work from 1973, Henze set 22 poems about human rights and freedom of speech. These texts where combined with photos from Amnesty International's collection that portrays the human rights today. A large education project at the Hague University was also connected to the performances.http://www.pbideutschland.de/fileadmin/user_files/groups/netherlands/files/Diversen/Dag_in_de_Branding.pdf

Saariaho Festival Den Haag

New European Ensemble initiated and produced a three-day festival in October 2011 around the Finnish composer

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...

.Saariaho Festival
/ref> The festival was a collaborative project with The Hague's major music organisations including the

Residentie Orchestra Het Residentie Orkest (literal translation, ''The Residence Orchestra''; known also in English as ''Residentie Orkest The Hague'') is a Dutch orchestra based in The Hague. The orchestra is currently resident at the Amare performing arts centre in T ...

, Dr. Anton Philipszaal, the Royal Conservatoire and Dag in the Branding. During the festival's seven concerts a large portion of

's most important works were performed. Also numerous works were performed in the Netherlands for the first time during the festival. The New European Ensemble performed Saariaho's complete works for large ensemble during three concerts.

Board of Patrons

Reinbert de Leeuw Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...

chief conductor ASKO, Schönberg *

Tomas Tranströmer Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long Swedish winters, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer's ...

, poet, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2011. *

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...

, stage director
Vladimir MendelssohnJard van Nes
singer
Anders_Hillborg
">Anders_Hillborg">Anders_Hillborg
_composer *Ed_Spanjaard.html" ;"title="Anders_Hillborg
.html" ;"title="Anders Hillborg">Anders Hillborg
">Anders Hillborg">Anders Hillborg
composer *Ed Spanjaard">Anders_Hillborg
.html" ;"title="Anders Hillborg">Anders Hillborg
">Anders Hillborg">Anders Hillborg
composer *Ed Spanjaard, chief conductor of the Nieuw Ensemble *Klas Torstensson, composer

External links

Official webpage

Footnotes

{{authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles Dutch musical groups Musical groups established in 2008 Chamber music groups