Musikfabrik
Encyclopedia
The musikFabrik is an ensemble for contemporary music located in Cologne
. Their official name is: musikFabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. (musikFabrik ensemble of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, registered association).
s for contemporary music. As the name suggests, musikFabrik is especially dedicated to artistic innovation
. New and in their medial form unknown works that they have often commissioned are their actual production area. The results of this work, frequently in a close collaboration with the composers, are presented by the ensemble of international soloists in 80 to 100 concerts a year in Germany
and abroad in festivals and in their own world Première series "musikFabrik in WDR" along with regular radio and CD productions. The musikFabrik is supported by the state of North-Rhine Westphalia.
(Witten Days for new chamber music). The formation of the ensemble took place at the end of 1990. The founders of the ensemble, Bernhard Wambach, Nicolaus A. Huber
, and Gerhard Stäbler
and the designated conductor and artistic director Johannes Kalitzke selected and summoned almost 20 musicians and presented the proposed project. Most of the musicians present were excited about the idea of forming a fulltime professional ensemble that would be working on contemporary music and programs in close collaboration with composers.
Since 1997 the ensemble has organised itself and made all important artistic decisions within its own ranks. The emphasis shifted then from North-Rhine Westphalian composers to a more international focus.
Founded after the Amsterdam Asko Ensemble
(formed 1965), the London Sinfonietta
(1968), the Schoenberg Ensemble (Den Haag, 1974), Ensemble InterContemporain
(Paris, 1976), Ensemble Modern
(Frankfurt, 1980), Klangforum Wien
(Vienna) and Freiburg's ensemble recherche (both 1985), musikFabrik is one of the youngest leading New Music ensembles in the world.
In 2003 musikFabrik moved from Düsseldorf
to Cologne
. Thanks to generous support from the Kunststiftung NRW
, WDR (West German Radio) and KölnMusik, musikFabrik has now a highly successful world Première concert series "musikFabrik in WDR“. MusikFabrik prepares for these concerts and for other projects in their new domicile in the KOMED building in MediaPark
(Cologne), where they moved in the summer of 2008.
s, composer
s, directors
and choreographers as well as the more renowned ones. The guest list of the ensemble is as long as it is prominent: Mark Andre
, Louis Andriessen
, Stefan Asbury, Richard Ayres
, Sir Harrison Birtwistle
, Earle Brown
, Unsuk Chin
, Péter Eötvös
, Vinko Globokar
, Heiner Goebbels
, Georg Friedrich Haas
, Toshio Hosokawa
, Nicolaus A. Huber
, Michael Jarrell
, Mauricio Kagel
, Helmut Lachenmann
, Klaus Lang
, Diego Masson
, Martin Matalon
, Zsolt Nagy
, Emmanuel Nunes
, Carlus Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus
), Emilio Pomarico, Enno Poppe
, Henri Pousseur
, Wolfgang Rihm
, Peter Rundel, Rebecca Saunders
, Steffen Schleiermacher
, Martin Smolka
, Christoph Staude, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, Sasha Waltz
, James Wood
and Hans Zender
were amongst them, to name just a few.
The experimentation and implementation with modern forms of communication
, experimental electronics, dance
, theatre
, film
, literature
, and creative arts
broaden the conventional form of a conducted ensemble concert along with chamber music
and the frequent confrontation with works that have an open form and include improvisation
. Lecture discussion concerts and experimenting with a concert form that allows the integration of audience participation belong to these ideas.
), Carl Rosman
(Clarinet
), Peter Veale (Oboe
), Alban Wesly (Bassoon
), Christine Chapman (Horn
), Marco Blaauw
(Trumpet
), Bruce Collings (Trombone
), Melvyn Poore (Tuba
, Sound), Benjamin Kobler (Piano
), Ulrich Löffler (Piano
), Dirk Rothbrust (Percussion), Juditha Haeberlin (Violin
), Hannah Weirich (Violin
), Axel Porath (Viola
), Dirk Wietheger (Violoncello), Michael Tiepold (Double Bass
).
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. Their official name is: musikFabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. (musikFabrik ensemble of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, registered association).
Overview
Since musikFabrik was founded in 1990, it has been regarded as one of the leading ensembleMusical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
s for contemporary music. As the name suggests, musikFabrik is especially dedicated to artistic innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
. New and in their medial form unknown works that they have often commissioned are their actual production area. The results of this work, frequently in a close collaboration with the composers, are presented by the ensemble of international soloists in 80 to 100 concerts a year in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and abroad in festivals and in their own world Première series "musikFabrik in WDR" along with regular radio and CD productions. The musikFabrik is supported by the state of North-Rhine Westphalia.
History
They gave their debut under the name „Ensemble Neue Musik Nordrhein-Westfalen“, on 28 April 1991 at the Wittener Tage für neue KammermusikWittener Tage für neue Kammermusik
The Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik is a music festival for contemporary chamber music, jointly organised by the town Witten in the Ruhr Area and the broadcasting station Westdeutscher Rundfunk...
(Witten Days for new chamber music). The formation of the ensemble took place at the end of 1990. The founders of the ensemble, Bernhard Wambach, Nicolaus A. Huber
Nicolaus A. Huber
Nicolaus A. Huber is a German composer.From 1958 to 1962 Huber studied music education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and subsequently composition with Franz Xaver Lehner and Günter Bialas. He pursued his education further with Josef Anton Riedl, Karlheinz Stockhausen and, above...
, and Gerhard Stäbler
Gerhard Stäbler
Gerhard Stäbler is a German contemporary composer.In 1968 he enrolled in the composition program at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold and continued his education at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, where he studied with Nicolaus A. Huber and Gerd Zacher...
and the designated conductor and artistic director Johannes Kalitzke selected and summoned almost 20 musicians and presented the proposed project. Most of the musicians present were excited about the idea of forming a fulltime professional ensemble that would be working on contemporary music and programs in close collaboration with composers.
Since 1997 the ensemble has organised itself and made all important artistic decisions within its own ranks. The emphasis shifted then from North-Rhine Westphalian composers to a more international focus.
Founded after the Amsterdam Asko Ensemble
Asko Ensemble
Asko Ensemble is a Dutch chamber orchestra that specializes in contemporary classical music. Formed in 1965 and based in Amsterdam, the group performs traditional concerts along with film music programmes, dance and multimedia projects and modern opera....
(formed 1965), the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
(1968), the Schoenberg Ensemble (Den Haag, 1974), Ensemble InterContemporain
Ensemble InterContemporain
The Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....
(Paris, 1976), Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
(Frankfurt, 1980), Klangforum Wien
Klangforum Wien
The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music.Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no official principal conductor. Sylvain Cambreling is...
(Vienna) and Freiburg's ensemble recherche (both 1985), musikFabrik is one of the youngest leading New Music ensembles in the world.
In 2003 musikFabrik moved from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. Thanks to generous support from the Kunststiftung NRW
Kunststiftung NRW
Kunststiftung NRW is a foundation created by the government of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established on September 12, 1989 and started operation in spring 1990...
, WDR (West German Radio) and KölnMusik, musikFabrik has now a highly successful world Première concert series "musikFabrik in WDR“. MusikFabrik prepares for these concerts and for other projects in their new domicile in the KOMED building in MediaPark
MediaPark
The MediaPark is a urban regeneration neighborhood in Cologne, Germany, completed by the turn of the millennium. It was set up to accommodate companies of the media and communication industry, as well as cultural institutions, a hotel and some apartment buildings. The MediaPark is situated in...
(Cologne), where they moved in the summer of 2008.
Profile
The musicians of musikFabrik have collaborated with both the younger generation of conductorConducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
s, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s, directors
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
and choreographers as well as the more renowned ones. The guest list of the ensemble is as long as it is prominent: Mark Andre
Mark Andre
Mark Andre is a French composer living in Germany. The Guardian said of him, "though Manchester festival director Alex Poots's claim that Mark Andre is "one of Europe's leading composers" is far-fetched, there is no doubt that Andre's music remains virtually unknown in the UK...
, Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
, Stefan Asbury, Richard Ayres
Richard Ayres
Richard Ayres is a British composer and teacher.Ayres was born in Cornwall, England in 1965. He followed Morton Feldman’s classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools. He studied composition, electronic music, and trombone at Huddersfield Polytechnic until 1989, graduating with...
, Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
, Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
, Unsuk Chin
Unsuk Chin
Unsuk Chin , is a South Korean composer of classical music, based in Berlin, Germany. She was awarded the Grawemeyer Award in 2004 and the Arnold Schönberg Prize in 2005.- Biography :...
, Péter Eötvös
Peter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös is a Hungarian composer and conductor.Eötvös was born in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland, Transylvania . He studied composition in Budapest and Cologne. From 1962, he composed for film in Hungary. Eötvös played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and...
, Vinko Globokar
Vinko Globokar
Vinko Globokar is a French avant-garde composer and trombonist of Slovene descent.His work is noted for its use of unconventional and extended techniques, closely allying him to contemporaries Salvatore Sciarrino and Helmut Lachenmann...
, Heiner Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels is a German composer, music director and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland....
, Georg Friedrich Haas
Georg Friedrich Haas
Georg Friedrich Haas is an Austrian composer of spectral music.He grew up in Tschagguns and studied composition with Gösta Neuwirth, Iván Erőd, and piano with Doris Wolf at the Musikhochschule in Graz...
, Toshio Hosokawa
Toshio Hosokawa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Hosokawa studied with Yun Isang at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 1998, Hosokawa has served as Composer-in-Residence at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Hosokawa became a guest professor at Tokyo College of Music...
, Nicolaus A. Huber
Nicolaus A. Huber
Nicolaus A. Huber is a German composer.From 1958 to 1962 Huber studied music education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and subsequently composition with Franz Xaver Lehner and Günter Bialas. He pursued his education further with Josef Anton Riedl, Karlheinz Stockhausen and, above...
, Michael Jarrell
Michael Jarrell
Michael Jarrell is a Swiss composer. Born in Geneva, he studied at the Conservatoire there, and later with Klaus Huber in Freiburg.His works span many genres...
, Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
, Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...
, Klaus Lang
Klaus Lang
Klaus Lang is an Austrian composer, concert organist and academic teacher.His opera Die Architektur des Regens after the Noh play Shiga by Zeami was premiered at the Munich Biennale in 2008....
, Diego Masson
Diego Masson
Diego Masson is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist.The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire...
, Martin Matalon
Martin Matalon
Martin Matalon 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...
, Zsolt Nagy
Zsolt Nagy
Zsolt Nagy is a Romanian politician of Hungarian ethnicity. Since December 2004, he is the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, but he was suspended on June 11, 2007 due to an investigation regarding some strategic privatisations...
, Emmanuel Nunes
Emmanuel Nunes
-Biography:Nunes was born in Lisbon, where he studied composition, first from 1959 to 1963 at the Academia de Amadores de Música with Francine Benoit, and then with Fernando Lopes Graça at the University . He then attended courses at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse , and in 1964 moved to Paris...
, Carlus Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus
La Fura dels Baus
La Fura dels Baus is a Catalan theatrical group founded in 1979 in Barcelona, known for their urban theatre, use of unusual settings and blurring of the boundaries between audience and actor. "La Fura dels Baus" in Catalan means "vermin from the sewers"....
), Emilio Pomarico, Enno Poppe
Enno Poppe
Enno Poppe is a German composer and conductor of classical music and an academic teacher.-Professional career:...
, Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer.-Biography:Pousseur studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1953. He was closely associated with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris...
, Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
, Peter Rundel, Rebecca Saunders
Rebecca Saunders
-Biography:Saunders studied violin and composition at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by a scholarship from the DAAD from 1991 to 1994 to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm, and in 1997 a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne.She has...
, Steffen Schleiermacher
Steffen Schleiermacher
Steffen Schleiermacher is a German composer, pianist, and conductor.After studying at the Leipzig Music School with Siegfried Thiele, he continued working there as a music theory and ear training assistant...
, Martin Smolka
Martin Smolka
Martin Smolka is a contemporary Czech composer of classical music.- Works :1983* Slzy ;1985-19881988* Music for Retuned Instruments;1989* Zvonění for solo percussion;* Nocturne;...
, Christoph Staude, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, Sasha Waltz
Sasha Waltz
Sasha Alexandra Waltz is a German choreographer, dancer and leader of the dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests.- Biography :...
, James Wood
James Wood
James Wood was an officer of the U.S. Continental Army during the American Revolution and the 11th Governor of Virginia.-Personal life:...
and Hans Zender
Hans Zender
Johannes Wolfgang Zender is a German conductor and composer.-Life:From 1956 to 1959 Zender studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.From 1959 to 1963 he was Kapellmeister of the Municipal Theatres in Freiburg im...
were amongst them, to name just a few.
The experimentation and implementation with modern forms of communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, experimental electronics, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, and creative arts
Creative Arts
Creative arts is the term used to describe different types of art. Specifically, to introduce fine art ideas, techniques, skills and media. It is generally used as an umbrella for Dramaturgy, Music , Graphic Arts/Cartooning, Performing Arts, Film and Publishing, Galleries and Museums and the Visual...
broaden the conventional form of a conducted ensemble concert along with chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and the frequent confrontation with works that have an open form and include improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
. Lecture discussion concerts and experimenting with a concert form that allows the integration of audience participation belong to these ideas.
Members
Helen Bledsoe (FluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
), Carl Rosman
Carl Rosman
Carl Rosman is an Australian clarinettist.Rosman studied with Phillip Miechel in Melbourne, then with Peter Jenkin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music...
(Clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
), Peter Veale (Oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
), Alban Wesly (Bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
), Christine Chapman (Horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
), Marco Blaauw
Marco Blaauw
Marco Blaauw is a Dutch trumpeter.- Biography :Marco Blaauw studied trumpet at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. He continued studying with Pierre Thibaud and with Markus Stockhausen. He has an international career as a trumpet soloist and is a permanent member of the ensemble musikFabrik...
(Trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
), Bruce Collings (Trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
), Melvyn Poore (Tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, Sound), Benjamin Kobler (Piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Ulrich Löffler (Piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Dirk Rothbrust (Percussion), Juditha Haeberlin (Violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
), Hannah Weirich (Violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
), Axel Porath (Viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
), Dirk Wietheger (Violoncello), Michael Tiepold (Double Bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
).