Atelier Hotel Pro Forma
Atelier Hotel Pro Forma is a new umbrella organization branching off from the world-renowned performance theatre Hotel Pro Forma. Under the leadership of Kirsten Dehlholm, Hotel Pro Forma has gained the reputation of being one of the most provocative, inspiring and innovative players in the field of experimental theatre. The aim of Atelier Hotel Pro Forma is to work in a global perspective in collaboration wioth artists from all over the world and “create works of undeniable beauty and high quality which provoke and inspire audiences and artists alike and give them new insights and ideas.”
www.hotelproforma.dk/side.asp?side=21&ver=uk
Athelas Chamber Players
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen is among the leading Danish ensembles specializing in contemporary music. Since its foundation in 1990, the ensemble has performed more than 600 different works, a large number of which have been first performances. When the members of Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen appear in smaller units and without a conductor, they call themselves Athelas Chamber Players. Many different groupings are possible such as wind quintet, string quartet and piano trio. The smaller ensembles appear in all parts of Denmark as well as abroad.
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen is among the leading Danish ensembles specializing in contemporary music and has also gained international renown. Everyone working for the ensemble – the muscians as well as the production team - are committed to presenting avant-garde music at concerts, opera performances and music festivals, on tours around the world and as part of innovative projects initiated by the ensemble. Since its foundation in 1990, the ensemble has performed more than 600 different works, a large number of which have been first performances. Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen is the house ensemble at Kulturværftet in Elsinore and the initiators of the Athelas New Music Festival. The latest CD’s by Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen are Per Nørgård’s “Lygtemænd i byen/Will ‘o’th’Wisps in Town” (2010) and Poul Ruders’ “Songs and Rhapsodies” (2011).
Cikada Trio (NO)
Cikada Trio with the unusual line-up of flute, clarinet and piano derives from the Cikada Ensemble, an ensemble of nine players which has gained recognition as one of the foremost ensembles for contemporary music in Norway since it was founded in 1989. Like the parent ensemble, the Cikada Trio has the ambition of exopanding the contemporary repertoire by commissioning new works by Nordic and international composers. At the same time the group stresses that these new works deserve to be played and heard several times. Cikada Trio tours regularly in Europe, the USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia,
www.cikada.no/EnglishIndex.html
Danish Dance Theatre
Dansk Danseteater (The Danish Dance Theatre) was established in 1981 and is regarded as one of Northern Europe’s leading Modern Dance copmpanies. The British choreographer Tim Rushton has been artistic director of the company since 2001. Under his direction Dansk Danseteater has developed into a company of international renown, receiving numerous prestigious awards. The repertoire embraces lavish stage productions, more intimate shows, open-air performances and collaborative projects with other artisits. Dansk Danseteater is much in demand in Denmark as well as abroad – the company has visited more than twenty countries in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
www.danskdanseteater.dk/splashsite/english.asp
Esbjerg Ensemble
For more than 40 years, the Esbjerg Ensemble has been presenting chamber music performances of a consistently high standard. The ensemble was formed in 1967 as the first professional chamber ensemble in Denmark and has since performed traditional and modern chamber music to enthusiastic audiences in their home area of Southwestern Jutland as well as all over Denmark and on visits abroad. The ensemble is appointed one of Denmark’s five “Basic Ensembles” with the special assignment of performing contemporary music. The Esbjerg Ensemble consists of twelve musicians from around the world - five wind players, five string players, a pianist and a percussionist.
JACK Quartet (US)
The American string quartet JACK Quartet has won acclaim all over the world for the red-hot commitment and “explosive virtuosity” with which they perform contemporary music. The violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, the violist John Pickford Richards and the cellist Kevin McFarland formed the quartet already while they were pupils of the Eastman School of Music. Since then, they have commissioned and performed works by many of today’s greatest composers, including Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Rihm and Beat Furrer. Pland for the next two seasins include a number of concerts with world-class pianist Maurizio Pollini.
Lydenskab
Lydenskab is a collective of six Classical musicians and a projects manager. The musicians graduated as soloists from Danish and European conservatories and got together to form the ensemble in Århus, Denmark. The invented name Lydenskab translates roughly as Soundscience. The ensemble present Classical music in new environments e.g. by playing concerts in the empty rooms of shops which have been closed after insolvency, or by using props such as interactive dream-machines, soundbugs and grass. The goal of the collective is to break down the barriers of the traditional concert hall presentation of music and create an alternative and intense presentation of Classical music.
Madame Claude & Friends
Madame Claude Trio was founded in 1991 and consists of flutist Pia Kaufmanas, viola player Ida Speyer Grøn and harpist Tine Rehling. The name of the Trio is inspired by Claude Debussy who wrote the first work for the combination of flute, viola and harp. This “Sonata” by Debussy has been recorded by the Trio for their CD “Music for Harp Trio”. Per Nørgård recently completed a new work for Madame Claude: “Billet Doux”. At the occassion of “Shadows and Shapes” Madame Claude has been expanded with the musicians Sigrid Kongshøj-Munch, Iiris Tötterström, Ida Andersson and Laurits Dragsted, and the harpist is Nina Schlemm.
Mogens Dahl Kammerkor
The members of Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir have been chosen among the finest singers of the North. In concert and on the three acclaimed ”North” CD’s, the choir excels in crystal clear intonation, dynamic excellerer koret med glasklar intonation, dynamisk inuances and the remarkable individual strengths of the singers. Mogens Dahl has conducted numerous choirs and orchestras since 1982 – among other things, he was the conductor and chorus master at the Danish National Opera from 1991 to 2006 and professor of direction at Aalborg University from 1982 to 2006. In recent years, the success of the Mogens Dahl Concert Hall on Amager and the Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir has taken up his time asnd attention.
New Jungle Orchestra
New Jungle Orchestra is inextricably linked with Pierre Dørge who founded the innovative jazz orchestra in 1980. When it comes to genre, the New Jungle Orchestra moves frontiers. The musicians create their own Dadaistic and often humourous musical universe by ombining jazz with elements of Asian, African and European music and what they themselves call “general madness”. The orchestra has long since moved across frontiers in a national and geographical sense by performing all over the world and winning acclaim for their unique brand of World Music.
Stavanger Symfoniorkester (NO)
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1938 and has developed into one of Norway’s proudest cultural institutions. In later years, the orchestra has attracted attention on the European music scene by focussing especially on early and contemporary music and by issuing a number of CD’s of Norwegian music on the label BIS, among them the collected orchestral works of Harald Sæverud, Geirr Tveitt and Fartein Valen. The orchestra has collaborated with internationally renowned conductors such as Steven Sloane and Fabio Biondi, as well as jazz greats like Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul.
Storstrøms Kammerensemble
The Danish Chamber Ensemble was established in 1991 as a so-called basis ensemble for South Zealand and Lolland-Falster. The many concerts of the ensemble comprise the central works of classical chamber music as well as an ongoing series of artistic projects transgressing the barriers of genre and art forms – collaborations with such artists as jazz singer Cæcilie Norby, actors Vigga Bro and Lars Bom, or projects involving dance and pictorial art. The country house Fuglsang is the resort of The Danish Chamber Ensemble and the venue of their chamber music festival in the summer of each year.
TM+ (F)
Since the first concert of TM+ in 1986, the French ensemble has made their mark from Helsinki in the North to Rio de Janeiro in the South as leading interpreters of music of the 20th and 21st centuries - often side-stepping to include the music of earlier ages as well. The ensemble consists of a core of 23 musicians and 15 regular guest musicians which makes it possible to perform a very varied repertoire of works. From the very beginning, the artistic director of the ensemble has been renowned composer and conductor Laurent Cuniot.
Trio Zoom
Consisting of a pianist, a saxophonist and a percussionist, Trio Zoom is a classical ensemble which combines a great love and respect for the classical tradition with the ambition of finding new ways of presenting that tradition with compelling aural as well as visual expressiveness. The Trio also finds inspiration in folk traditions old and new from such places as the Far East, the Balkans and Argentina. Between them, the three members of Trio Zoom – Tanja Zapolski, Stefan Baur and Ying-Hsueh – have a truly international profile with Denmark as their home ground and familiy roots in Russia, Ukraine, Taiwan and China.
Århus Sinfonietta
Århus Sinfonietta came into existence in 1990 and has been a central player in the field of Danish contemporary music from the start. Århus Sinfonietta not only performs the music of today but also functions as a lab for young composers. Apart from an ongoing series of concerts all over Denmark, Århus Sinfonietta has issued several CD’s of sinfonietta works by contemporary Danish composers to great critical acclaim. In 2005 Århus Sinfonietta was appointed special ensemble by the Danish State.