Ensemble Resonanz

Ensemble Resonanz

Founded in 1994, Ensemble Resonanz is a string ensemble consisting of 18 members, considered from its beginning as one of the leading groups of its kind in Europe. They not only fascinate their audience with their technical brilliance, but also with their passionate performance. The versatility of the ensemble and the confident interpretive approach to repertoire from all eras secured Ensemble Resonanz its reputation as the “orchestra of the future” (committee of the “Würth-Prize of the Jeunesses Musicales,” 2002).

It is easy to rely on the known. But it is much more exciting to discover the unknown. Conscientious study of contemporary scores is therefore a focus of the ensemble. The open and intense collaboration, which marks the work of these musicians, is much appreciated among composers, and it has promoted the emergence of numerous new works for strings or chamber orchestra.

For a long time there was one straightforward maxim: an ensemble is either devoted to new music or to early music. Specialization was in demand. Ensemble Resonanz, however, is interested in the possibility of encounter. In spite of the strong focus on the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, it performs early music with the same dedication. New views and modes of perception are conveyed through contrasts.

Three years ago the ensemble became the “ensemble in residence” at the Laeiszhalle – Musikhalle Hamburg, where it opened its own concert series “resonances.” In this series, new and earlier music is presented together corresponding to the concept of the ensemble. Contemporary music is not approached in an isolated way, but put in context of the musical development. Through listening experience with a reflection on the older works, contemporary music is understood differently – since the old was also new and perhaps even an experiment at one point.

Besides the artistic work in Hamburg, the ensemble regularly makes guest appearances at many great concert stages and festivals in Germany and Europe. In February 2004 it performed the music for Michael Gordon’s video opera weather, another piece dedicated to the Ensemble Resonanz, at the Miller Theater in New York. Additional concert tours led the ensemble to South Asia and Mexico. In an act of special recognition of the group’s work, it was named “ensemble in residence” of the “International New Music Summer Courses” in Darmstadt, a responsibility, which the Ensemble Resonanz assumed in the summer of 2004 for the second time.