The Xenakis Ensemble is a Dutch music ensemble dedicated to the performance of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. Based in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

, it is known as one of the few ensembles specializing in the works of the composer

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...

. It is frequently conducted by

Diego Masson Diego Masson (born 21 June 1935) is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist. The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson was born in Tossa de Mar, Spain. He studied piano and compositio ...

, who conducted the performances of many of Xenakis's works, as well as other guest conductors including Huub Kerstens. Its concertmaster is

Mifune Tsuji was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

. The group was founded in 1980, at the initiative of the foundation Nieuwe MUZIEK Zeeland of Middelburg and the pianist

Geoffrey Douglas Madge Geoffrey Douglas Madge (born 3 October 1941) is an Australian classical pianist and composer. Biography Madge was born in Adelaide and took his first piano lessons at the age of eight. He later won the 1963 ABC Concerto and Vocal Competition. A ...

, with the approval of the composer Iannis Xenakis. Co-founder Ad van 't Veer died in June 2021. Its repertoire includes over 40 compositions by Xenakis, some of which were written for the group (e.g., the 1986 ''À l'île de Gorée'' for amplified harpsichord and twelve musicians). The ensemble also performs recent works by

Luca Francesconi Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, later with Karlheinz Stockhausen and then Luciano Berio. Early years Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ...

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindri ...

Jin Hi Kim Jin Hi Kim (; born February 6, 1957) is a composer and performer of ''geomungo, komungo'' and electric komungo, and a Korean music specialist. Kim is known as a pioneer for introducing ''geomungo'' (거문고, a Korean fretted board zither, also ...

Huib Emmer Huib Emmer (born 6 September 1951 in Utrecht) is a Dutch composer. He also plays electric guitar and electric bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched mem ...

, and Bunita Marcus. The Xenakis Ensemble has released several CDs of the music of Iannis Xenakis (one in collaboration with the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist Elisabeth Chojnacka), as well as several other composers.

Discography

*1990 – ''Iannis Xenakis'' (Musifrance 2292-45030-2) *1995 – ''Xenakis Ensemble Live'' (BVHaast 9219) *1998 – ''Xenakis Ensemble'' (Bvhaast 9805) *1999 – ''Xenakis Ensemble'' (BVHaast 9903) *2000 – ''Xenakis - Orchestral & Chamber Works'' (Ultima). 2-CD set

References

External links

Xenakis Ensemble page
* All-Music entry*
ProfilePerformances at the Ars Musica festival in Brussels
Musical groups established in 1980 Contemporary classical music ensembles Chamber orchestras Musical groups from Zeeland Middelburg, Zeeland 1980 establishments in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-band-stub

Discography

See also

References

External links