ALEA Ensemble
| ALEA Ensemble | |
|---|---|
| Chamber ensemble for contemporary music | |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Location | Graz |
| Principal conductor | Gerhard Präsent |
The ALEA Ensemble is a chamber music ensemble founded in 1988 in Graz for contemporary music, playing in variable formation including the ALEA Quartet.
The ensemble was founded in 1988 by composer and conductor Gerhard Präsent and his wife, violinist Sigrid Präsent. The name is derived from the aleatoric composition style, but can also be applied for variable combination of instruments for different works, such as the ALEA Quartet. The ensemble performs contemporary music, frequently in combination with traditional repertory. They played and recorded the second and third string quartet by Iván Erőd, string quartets by Gerhard Präsent, and the second to fourth string quartet by Herbert Blendinger.
The ALEA ensemble has performed at festivals in Austria, such as "Österreich heute" (Austria today) and "Hörgänge" (Paths of listening/hearing ducts) in the Wiener Konzerthaus, "Judenburger Musiksommer" in Judenburg, "Carinthischer Sommer" (Carinthian Summer) in Ossiach and "Styriarte". They have performed internationally at the festival "Nuovi Spazi Musicali" at the Forum Austriaco (Austrian Cultural Forum) in Rome, "Musik-Forum München" in Munich, the "Lutoslawski Festival" in Lublin, at the "Oaarwurm"-Festival in Berlin and at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City as well as London and Washington, D.C.
Their 2007 CD "Klassik meets Jazz" was reviewed in 2008 by Tim Homfray in "The Strad": "Berndt Luefs At Nightfall and La Carretera are attractive and elegantly played; his Sonntag in der Kleinstadt for violin and vibraphone has Sigrid Präsent enjoying herself. [...] Iván Eröd's solo-violin GeburtstagsPRÄSENT [(a birthday present to Gerhard Präsent)], played with assured simplicity by Sigrid is followed by his Third String Quartet of 2003. This is a powerful and concentrated work, which the ALEA plays with tonal intensity and rhythmic vitality. ... Gerhard Präsent's own Canzona op.50 for violin and cello has a similar expressive economy. Here cellist Christian Peyr joins Sigrid Präsent for a performance particularly notable for the plaintive dialogue of the beautiful third movement Aria."
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Wikipedia