Ensemble Contrechamps is a Swiss ensemble for new music based in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and created in 1980 by Philippe Albèra. The ensemble's current artistic director is Swiss percussionist and composer Serge Vuille, who took over in 2018. The ensemble has premiered works by George Benjamin,

Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was a self-taught pianist from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as well as with ...

Hugues Dufourt Hugues Dufourt () is a French composer and philosopher associated with the spectral school of composition. Born in Lyon on September 28, 1943, Dufourt studied piano and composition at the Geneva Conservatory. Dufourt became co-director of the E ...

Beat Furrer Beat Furrer (born 6 December 1954) is a Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor. He has served as professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 1991. He was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2018 ...

, Stefano Gervasoni,

Heinz Holliger Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Clas ...

Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell (born 8 October 1958) is a Swiss composer and academic teacher, whose operas, such as ''Cassandre'', have been performed internationally. Life Born in Geneva, Jarrell studied at the Geneva Conservatoire, and later with Klaus H ...

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. According to ''Grove Music Online'', with a style that draws on " Bartók, Webern and, to a lesser extent, Stravinsky, his work is c ...

Jürg Frey Jürg Frey (born 15 May 1953) is a Swiss composer and clarinettist. He is a member of the Wandelweiser, Wandelweiser Group. Biography Jürg Frey was born in 1953 in Aarau, Switzerland. He studied clarinet in Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, ...

, Jimmie LeBlanc,

Martín Matalon Martin Matalon (born Buenos Aires in 1958) is an Argentine composer and musician, and recipient of the 2005 Grand Prix des Lycéens and 2001 Prix de L'Institut de France Académie des Beaux Arts. He was a student of music during his early life, a ...

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the " spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''. Early life and studies Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His f ...

Isabel Mundry Isabel Mundry (born 20 April 1963) is a German composer. Life and work Isabel Mundry was born in Schlüchtern, Hesse in 1963 and studied composition at the Berlin University of the Arts, Hochschule der Künste and electronic music, musicology and ...

and

Rebecca Saunders Rebecca Saunders (born 19 December 1967) is a London-born composer who lives and works freelance in Berlin. In a 2017 ''Classic Voice'' poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, Saunders' compositions received the third highest total ...

, amongst others. Conductors and artists associated with the ensemble include

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös (, ; 2 January 194424 March 2024) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and academic teacher. After studies of composition in Budapest and Cologne, Eötvös composed film music in Hungary from 1962. He played with the Stockhaus ...

, Stefan Asbury,

Pascal Rophé Pascal Rophé (born 16 June 1960) is a French conductor. He was the music director of the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire. Currently he is the conductor of the Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra ( Simfonijski orkestar Hrvatske ...

Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 9 September 1957) is a French pianist. He focuses on contemporary music. Biography Aimard was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio. In 1973, h ...

, Michael Wendeberg, Jurjen Hempel,

Clement Power Clement Power (born 20 August 1980 in London) is a British conductor. Education After studies of piano, violin and composition, Power read music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and studied conducting at the Royal College of Music, Lon ...

, and Peter Hirsch. Ensemble Contrechamps is regularly invited abroad for concerts and takes part in numerous festivals such as Musica (Strasbourg), , Voix nouvelles (Royaumont), Ars Musica (Brussels), Ankara Festival, Witten Days for New Chamber Music,

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

, Music Biennale in Venice,

Wien Modern Wien Modern is a modern music festival in Vienna, Austria that was founded by Claudio Abbado in 1988. It was created with the intent of revitalizing the traditional music scene of Vienna. Friedrich Cerha, Johannes Maria Staud, Mark Andre, Wolfg ...

DeSingel deSingel is a Belgian arts center. It is located on the Desguinlei in Antwerp. Its various stages, concert halls and exhibition spaces offer a manifold program of music, dance, theater and architecture. It is also home to the Royal Conservator ...

(Antwerp), Akiyoshidai Festival (Yamaguchi, Japan), Barossa Music Festival (Adelaide), Festival International de Musique (Besançon),

MaerzMusik MaerzMusik is a festival of the Berliner Festspiele and has been held annually since March 2002 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and other venues. It is the successor festival to the Musik-Biennale Berlin and is considered one of the most impo ...

Berlin, Tage für Neue Musik (Zürich),

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curr ...

, Festival Amadeus, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik (Austria), New Music Week of Shanghaï, etc. In Geneva, the ensemble collaborates regularly with the Centre de Musique Électroacoustique de la Haute École de Musique, the Grand Théâtre, the Museum of Art and History and the Comédie de Genève. Ensemble Contrechamps also offers numerous educational activities for school-age public in setting up workshops, commented dress-rehearsals as well as concerts for children in collaboration with the theatre company Am Stram Gram.

Discography

* Contrechamps 30 ans , Label Contrechamps *

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

, ''Points on the Curve to Find...,

Folk Songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

, Sequenza VII, Laborintus II'' , Spotify * William Blank, ''Portrait'' , Spotify *

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

, ''Portrait'' , Fonoteca * Eunho Chang, ''Kaleidoscope'' ,

Kairos ''Kairos'' () is an ancient Greek language, Greek word meaning 'the right or critical moment'. In modern Greek, ''kairos'' also means 'weather' or 'time'. It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being (). ...

* Miguel Farias, ''Up & Down'' , Kairos *

Bryn Harrison Bryn Harrison (born 1969 in Bolton, England) is a British experimental composer. His works have been widely performed by international ensembles and he was a recipient of the 2013 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers. He is currently Reader ...

, ''Time becoming'' , Neu records *

, ''Trei II, Modifications, Eco,Trace-Ecart'' , Spotify *

Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer, conductor and academic teacher. Biography Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. He began his music studies with Gise ...

, ''Solo and Ensemble Works'' , Neos * Deqing Wen, ''Portrait'' , Presto

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=collapsed Orchestras in Geneva Musical groups established in 1977 1980 establishments in Switzerland Chamber orchestras