Ensemble Modern

Ryoji Ikeda

The Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda came to international renown with his kaleidoscopic sound sculptures, in which electronics and new technologies play key roles. With mathematical precision, he artfully orchestrates sound, images, materials and physical phenomena into performances and installations.

With these experiences as a starting point, Ikeda accepted the challenge of transferring his working methods to purely acoustic compositions, and this concert might also be entitled Ryoji Ikeda unplugged. In three works written especially for Ensemble Modern he creates a ritual experience merging sound, space and stage action.

Ensemble Modern calls itself a curious loudspeaker for the music of our times, and was founded in 1980. Their main base is in Frankfurt am Main, and the orchestra consists of 18 soloist altogether. Every year they rehearse an average of 70 new works, 20 of which are world premieres, mostly in close contact with their composers.

Photo: Wonge Bergmann

Contributors

• Ensemble Modern:

• Jagdish Mistry violin

• Giorgos Panagiotidis violin

• Veronika Paleeva violin

• Rachel Koblyakov violin

• Megumi Kasakawa viola

• Victor Guaita Igual viola

• Eva Böcker cello  

• Charles Watt cello  

• Paul Cannon double bass

• Volker Bernhart sound engineer

Works

• Ryoji Ikeda (1966–)
  Mirror [one for two], op. 12
  Prism [for string nonet], op. 14
  Reflection [for string nonet], op. 13

Supported by

The Savings Bank Foundation DNB