Ensemble Modern

10th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival

It’s already been twelve years since the Pharos Arts Foundation invited for the first time in Cyprus one of the most iconic ensembles of our time: Ensemble Modern. As part of that concert, in 2006, the Foundation also commissioned a Cypriot composer in his mid-20s, who was increasingly becoming acknowledged abroad but was barely known in Cyprus. His resulting masterpiece, entitled Echopraxia, was premiered in Cyprus in May 2016 and went on to win the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the prestigious Irino Prize in Japan the following year. The name of that composer was Evis Sammoutis, who has gained a vast international reputation ever since and is now the Festival’s artistic director.

The 10th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival is thrilled to welcome the return visit of the remarkable Ensemble Modern, who will team up again with Evis Sammoutis in presenting one of his works, as well as with Vassos Nicolaou – another internationally celebrated Cypriot composer who was repeatedly featured by Pharos in his early days. The programme will also include works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Jörg Widmann, and a world premiere by the extremely promising young Cypriot composer Andreas Tsiartas.

The concert, which will take place on Friday 5 October at The Shoe Factory, 8:30pm, would not have been made possible without the generous support of the Goethe Institut Zypern.

ENSEMBLE MODERN

Since its founding in 1980, Ensemble Modern has established itself among the leading new music ensembles in the world. The Ensemble’s unique and distinctive programming includes musical theatre works, dance and video projects, chamber music, ensemble and orchestral concerts. Tours and guest appearances have taken the Ensemble Modern to the most renowned festivals and distinguished performance venues, such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Bregenzer Festspiele, Wien Modern, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Holland Festival, Klangspuren Schwaz, Berliner Festspiele, Ruhrtriennale and Lucerne Festival, as well as to the Wigmore Hall, Cité de la Musique, Tokyo Wondersite, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Since 1985, Ensemble Modern has been having its own series at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, and since 2011, it has been collaborating with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in presenting the festival cresc... Biennial for Modern Music Frankfurt Rhine-Main.

Ensemble Modern strives to achieve the highest possible degree of authenticity by working closely with contemporary composers, producing an average of 70 new works every year, 20 of which are world premieres. Its work is characterised by extraordinary and often long-term cooperative ventures with renowned artists, such as Peter Eötvös, Heiner Goebbels, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, Benedict Mason, John Adams, George Benjamin, Frank Zappa.

In addition to its multi-faceted concert activities, Ensemble Modern presents the results of its work through regular radio and CD recordings. Almost 30 of the more than 150 CD productions have been released by the ensemble’s own label, Ensemble Modern Media. In 2003, Ensemble Modern was declared a “Leuchtturm” or “beacon” of contemporary culture in Germany by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

That same year, Ensemble Modern began bundling its existing education and further education projects under one roof, founding the now renowned International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) with the goal of passing on the musical heritage of modernism.

Information & Tickets:
Information: Pharos Arts Foundation Tel. (+357) 22-663871 / www.pharosartsfoundation.org
Tickets: €15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website or Tel. (+357) 22-663871(Monday-Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)