back    Ensemble ascolta Ensemble The ensemble ascolta of Stuttgart was founded in 2002 by seven musicians who had worked together for many years in a variety of chamber music formations, with the goal of making it possible to study and perform outstanding new scores. The composition of the ensemble—trumpet, trombone, violoncello, guitar (electric bass), piano/harpsichord, and two percussionists—changes the focus in contrast to classical ensemble formations: the tonal image has deep, natural timbres, many spectral possibilities, and a strong concentration on percussion and rhythm instruments, which should substantially supplement and expand the current landscape of ensembles. The members, who are all active as soloists as well as members of other top ensembles, make themselves available during the composition process as much as possible to permit experimentation. As a rule the ensemble performs as a septet, though sometimes supplemented by flute or clarinet/bass clarinet, for example. Concerts in smaller formations are another important aspect of the ensemble’s work. Numerous composers have written for the ensemble: in recent years its programs have included premieres by Cornelius Schwehr, Tiziano Manca, Andrew Digby, James Saunders, Gerald Eckert, Hans Thomalla, and Bernd Thewes; pieces by Olga Neuwirth, Michael Reudenbach, Alan Hilario, Annette Schmucki, Michel Roth, and many others will follow. In collaboration with the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart it worked on a project that combined silent films of the 1920s and 1930s with new compositions by Gunter Lege, Cornelius Schwehr, Martin Smolka, Catherine Milliken, and Caspar Johannes Walter. This production will be recorded in January 2006 for ZDF/Arte. At the invitation of the SWR the ensemble ascolta recorded a program with Fluxus actions and rarely performed works by John Cage. It has been invited to the Festival Eclat Stuttgart, and the festivals in Lucerne nd Witten, World Music Days, and the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. They are planning numerous projects in combination with the visual arts, film, and musical theater. The Ensemble Ascolta cooperates regularly with the Neue Vocalsolisten of Stuttgart and with Musik der Jahrhunderte, in whose rehearsal spaces on the Pragsattel in Stuttgart the ensemble works. In 2005 it participated in Die Süße unserer traurigen Kindheit and in 2006 in fremd at the Forum Neues Musiktheater.
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