Friday, November 6, 2015, 8pmHertz Hall

Ensemble intercontemporainMatthias Pintscher, Music Director

PROGRAM

Marco Stroppa (b. 1959) gla-dya. Études sur les rayonnements jumeaux(2006–2007)

1. Languido, lascivo (langoureux, lascif)2. Vispo (guilleret)3. Come una tenzone (comme un combat)4. Lunare, umido (lunaire, humide)5. Scottante (brûlant)

Jens McManama, hornJean-Christophe Vervoitte, horn

Frank Bedrossian (b. 1971) We met as Sparks (2015)United States première

Emmanuelle Ophèle, bass fluteAlain Billard, contrabass clarinet

Odile Auboin, violaÉric-Maria Couturier, cello

19

PLAYBILL

PROGRAM

Beat Furrer (b. 1954) linea dell’orizzonte (2012)

INTERMISSION

Kurt Hentschläger (b. 1960)* Cluster.X (2015)Edmund Campion (b. 1957) United States première

Kurt Hentschläger, electronic surround soundtrack and videoEdmund Campion, instrumental score and live processing

Jeff Lubow, software (CNMAT)

* Audiovisual artist Kurt Hentschläger in collaboration with composer Edmund Campion.

Ensemble intercontemporain’s U.S. tour is sponsored by the City of Paris and the French Institute.

Additional support is provided by the FACE Foundation Contemporary Music Fund.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsor Ross Armstrong,in memory of Jonas (Jay) Stern.

Hamburg Steinway piano provided by Steinway & Sons of San Francisco.

Cal Performances’ 2015–2016 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

ORCHESTRA ROSTER

ENSEMBLE INTERCONTEMPORAIN

Emmanuelle Ophèle flute, bass fluteDidier Pateau oboe

Philippe Grauvogel oboeJérôme Comte clarinet

Alain Billard bass clarinet, contrabass clarinetPascal Gallois bassoonPaul Riveaux bassoon

Jens McManama hornJean-Christophe Vervoitte horn

Clément Saunier trumpetJérôme Naulais tromboneBenny Sluchin trombone

Samuel Favre percussionGilles Durot percussion

Victor Hanna percussionSébastien Vichard piano

Jeanne-Marie Conquer violinHae-Sun Kang violinOdile Auboin viola

John Stulz violaÉric-Maria Couturier cello

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Fabio Brum trumpetChristelle Séry electric guitar

PLAYBILL

PROGRAM NOTES

Marco Stroppagla-dya. Études sur les rayonnements jumeauxfor two horns

Commissioned by the Ensemble intercontem-porain. Composed in 2006–2007. Premièred onApril 5, 2007, in the Espace de projection,IRCAM, Paris, by Jens McManama and Jean-Christophe Vervoitte.

Radiance: the process by which a vibratingsource sends energy through a medium.

For all objects that produce radiance, re-gardless of their environment, a medium ofcommunication is required. All sound sources(instrument, speaker, etc.) have characteristicsof their own. Among them, the horn is surelythe most intriguing. Like all brass instruments,the horn’s radiance (the projection pattern ofits sound) is directional, like a fairly narrowbeam of light. However, when compared to thetrumpet or the trombone, the flared shape ofthe horn’s bell results in a less-focused projec-tion. Moreover, the bell’s backward position-ing means that one perceives only the indirectsound—a sound that is heard only after it is re-flected off of surrounding objects.

My first area of investigation when writingthis piece was to study these directional char-acteristics and incorporate them in the selec-tion of musical materials: each “study” offers adifferent relationship between the two horns.This relationship creates a space between theinstruments which is explored in the music.For example, when the bell is facing the backof the stage (in studies one and four), the in-strument plays the role of an echo—a remote,almost secret, source.

The other area of research regarded the con-cept of “double”: why use two equal instrumentsin lieu of other combinations? This concept isthematically linked to 19th-century German lit-erature (the concept of “Doppelgänger”) andthe 20th-century concept of psychoanalysis, butI found the closest description of “double” in amyth of creation belonging to the Malinka cul-ture of West Africa. In tribute to this region of

Africa, which is populated by musicians withbreathtaking rhythmic finesse, the second andfifth studies freely use rhythmic elements fromthe Malinka repertoire.

Like the majority of my work, the music ofthis evening is presented in a preliminary (al-beit still very advanced) stage to validate cer-tain musical hypothesizes. I would like toextend my greatest gratitude to JensMcNamana and Jean-Christophe Vervoitte.These two musicians, who I first heard atEnsemble intercontemporain concerts, haveinspired me to embark on this “spatial” road.

Marco StroppaTranslated by Scott Rubin

Franck BedrossianWe met as Sparksfor bass flute, contrabass clarinet, viola, and cello

Commissioned by the Ensemble intercontem-porain. Composed in 2015. Premièred onOctober 25, 2015, at the Essen Philharmonie bythe soloists of the Ensemble intercontemporain:Emmanuelle Ophèle, bass flute; Alain Billard,contrabass clarinet; Odile Auboin, viola; andÉric-Maria Couturier, cello.

The composition of a piece of music oftenstarts by defining its instrumentation. In thiswork, it acts as a quartet of many facets, eachamong them explored and developed throughthe compositional process.

The musical material of this double duo,which unfolds in the middle and low registers,gives the ensemble a particular color. The ma-terial evolves at low pressure, feeding a dis-cernible imbalance of power between themusicians, and with it, the creating the prem-ise of the dramaturgy within the form.

From this texture, I wished to extract arange of rich, contrasting, and opposing har-monic colors—a game of continuous ex-changes between the low and high registers,provoking tensions, echoes, and divergences.

To complete the visual analogy, I placed atthe heart of the piece a poem by EmilyDickinson—written with the bow—to evoke

PROGRAM NOTES

the gleaming reflections looming from theseparation and the obscured (958):

We met as Sparks — Diverging FlintsSent various — scattered ways —We parted as the Central FlintWere cloven with an Adze —Subsisting on the Light We boreBefore We felt the Dark —A Flint unto this Day — perhaps —But for that single Spark.

Franck BedrossianTranslated by Scott Rubin

Beat Furrerlinea dell’orizzontefor ensemble

Composed in 2012. Premièred on October 21, 2012,at the Musiktage, Donaueschingen, by EnsembleAscolta, conducted by Johannes Kalitzke.

“What interested me was the phenomenon ofdoubling, but also of the distortion into ashadow and the creation of the process-relatedresulting from this intersecting of voices intoeach other,” says Beat Furrer.

In linea dell’orizzonte, his composition forthe Ensemble Ascolta, this principle of trans-formation is applied to a heterogeneous groupof instruments of piano, violin, cello, clarinet,trumpet, trombone, percussion, and electricguitar and realized in a rich, diversified mate-rial. Out of the intertwining of the voicesemerges a study of distorted shadows.

Marie Luise Maintz

Kurt Hentschläger & Edmund CampionCluster.Xfor 16 instruments, video with multichannelelectronic sound, and real-time spatial audioprocessing

Commissioned by the Ensemble intercontem-porain and Arcadi Île-de-France. Composed in2015. Premièred on October 9, 2015, at the Citéde la musique-Philharmonie 2Paris, by the

Ensemble intercontemporain, conducted byJayce Ogren.

Cluster.X is a hybrid media performance de-signed to be played by a group of virtual bodiesand the Ensemble intercontemporain. All pro-tagonists, both real and unreal, create the music.

Cluster.X is a collaborative work byEdmund Campion and Kurt Hentschlägerbased on the existing audiovisual work,Cluster by Mr. Hentschläger.

Emerging from a dialogue between thecomposers/artists, an adapted, dramaturgicallyre-edited version is the starting point and in-spiration for Edmund Campion’s score for theEnsemble intercontemporain instrumentalists.

Cluster.X consists of three music/sound com-ponents: (1) electronic soundtrack of the Clustervideo, composed by Mr. Hentschläger; (2) en-semble instrumental score, composed by Mr. Campion; (3) spatial sound diffusion (com-posed by both Mr. Hentschläger and Mr. Campion,with support from the Center for New Music andAudio Technologies and Jeff Lubow.

In the weightless choreography of Cluster.X,human figures appear mostly as an undiffer-entiated particle blur and sound as a pulsing,amorphous mass, together forming a cloud ofambiguous matter made of body parts, lightand drone. Cluster.X describes a meta-organ-ism with a decidedly anti-individualistic char-acter, yet still unmistakably human.

Kurt Hentschläger

The impeccable musicians of the Ensembleintercontemporain are installed and matedto the audiovisual artwork Cluster.X. We areintercrossing the arts, where all manner ofhell might break loose. Out of all thesepieces, there really is no puzzle to be solved,no better art form to be bred. There is onlythe hope of gaining a moment, one bornfrom a deeply interwoven collaboration withartist Kurt Hentschläger. Yes, it is anothermixed-media show! Yet each one, particularly

PLAYBILL

PROGRAM NOTES

this one, simultaneously dismisses and de-sires the moment, an immersion into the cur-rent-day Mysterium (the space of the numen,the place of beauty).

Edmund Campion

This performance of Cluster.X is made possible, in part,with technical support from the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), University ofCalifornia, Berkeley.

Thanks to Jeff Lubow (CNMAT) for spatial software andprogramming support.

Cluster production Kurt Hentschläger 2009–2015: Originalcoproduction: Arcadi, France. Additional production andresidency support provided by EMPAC/ RensselaerPolytechnic Institute and the Jaffe Fund for ExperimentalMedia and Performing Arts.

Ogre/Bullet & Max MSP Programming, Rob RamirezAbleton Live & Max for Live Programming, Ian Brill 3DCharacter Design, Chris Day.

Cluster.X is supported by FACE Contemporary MusicFund, a program of FACE with major support from theCultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, InstitutFrançais, the City of Paris, the Florence Gould Foundation,and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8pmHertz Hall

Ensemble intercontemporainMatthias Pintscher, Music Director

PROGRAM

Edgard Varèse (1883–1965) Octandre (1923)

I. Assez lentII. Très vif et nerveux

III. Grave

Matthias Pintscher (b. 1971) bereshit (2011–2013)

INTERMISSION

Pintscher beyond (a system of passing) (2013)

Sophie Cherrier, flute

Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) sur Incises (1996–1998)

Moment IMoment II

Ensemble intercontemporain’s U.S. tour is sponsored by the City of Paris and the French Institute.

Additional support is provided by the FACE Foundation Contemporary Music Fund.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsor Ross Armstrong,in memory of Jonas (Jay) Stern.

Hamburg Steinway piano provided by Steinway & Sons of San Francisco.

Cal Performances’ 2015–2016 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL

ORCHESTRA ROSTER

ENSEMBLE INTERCONTEMPORAIN

Sophie Cherrier fluteEmmanuelle Ophèle flute

Didier Pateau oboePhilippe Grauvogel oboe

Jérôme Comte clarinetAlain Billard contrabass clarinet

Pascal Gallois bassoonPaul Riveaux bassoon

Jens McManama hornJean-Christophe Vervoitte horn

Clément Saunier trumpetJérôme Naulais tromboneBenny Sluchin trombone

Samuel Favre percussionGilles Durot percussion

Victor Hanna percussionDimitri Vassilakis piano

Hidéki Nagano pianoSébastien Vichard piano

Frédérique Cambreling harpJeanne-Marie Conquer violin

Hae-Sun Kang violinDiégo Tosi violin

Odile Auboin violaJohn Stulz viola

Éric-Maria Couturier celloNicolas Crosse double bass

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Frank Scalisi clarinetFabio Brum trumpet

Ségolène Brutin harpBleuenn Le Friec harp

Aurélienne Brauner cello

PROGRAM NOTES

Edgard VarèseOctandrefor eight instruments

Composed in 1923. Dedicated to RobertSchmitz. Premièred on January 13, 1924, at theConcerts of the International Composers’ Guild,Vanderbilt Theater, New York, under the direc-tion of Robert Schmitz.

Written for eight instruments (seven wind in-struments and a contrabass), Octandre (1932)is seen as a contemporary of Stravinsky’s ownOctet for Wind Instruments (1932). Along withDensity 21.5 (1936, rev. 1946), Octandre is oneof Varèse’s only works that does not call for per-cussion instruments. It is also the composer’sonly work that is divided into sequential move-ments. Nevertheless, Octandre fully featuresVarèse’s style and technique, which lie deliber-ately on the sidelines of musical tradition.Rather than using form and development as theprimary parameter of composition, Varèse as-serts timbre as the main structural element.

“What strikes us early on in the piece,” writesBelgian composer and actor Arthur Hoérée, “isthe exceptional instrumentation which is at thefoundation of the work.” Each movement ofOctandre begins with an important melodic lineplayed by a solo instrument. The first movement,marked at a slow tempo, begins with a solo oboesupported by the clarinet and contrabass. Theoboe again has the last word in this movement.The second movement, marked very fast andnervous, is introduced by a solo piccolo. It islinked to the third movement (marked very slow)by a sustained note in the contrabass, over whichwe hear the inaugural bassoon solo. Followingthis, we hear a fugal passage marked “animatedand jubilant,” with successive imitative entrancesfrom the oboe, the bassoon, and the clarinet.

Myriam ChimènesTranslated by Scott Rubin

Matthias Pintscherbereshitfor large ensemble

Commissioned by the Ensemble intercontempo-rain and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Composed in 2011–2013. Premièred on May 24,2013, at the Ordway Theater in Saint Paul,Minnesota, by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra,under the direction of Matthias Pintscher.

“In a beginning…” refers to the biblical creationmyth: bereshit is the first word of the Torah, ofthe Old Testament. This concept contains theidea of an approximation: “a” beginning, not“the beginning,” a turning point. This is thestarting point of Matthias Pintscher’s composi-tion bereshit for large ensemble. It deals withnothing less than the act of creation, the for-mation of the natural. “As if you woke up in thepitch darkness of night in a strange room andonly realised after a few seconds where youwere. In this state you attempt to make out theshapes of the space. It is a beginning of a be-ginning from absolute darkness and shapeless-ness. Quite cautiously and gradually particlesfree themselves, then condense and fit togetherin shapes.” Pintscher describes this feeling asthe starting point for his composition.

Imagining the creation of things is both ametaphor for the creation, the creative act,and its incomprehensibility. It ultimately alsodescribes the process of perception, of a per-son’s development of awareness. It is a philo-sophical reflection in itself. A portrayal of thiscan be found in music as an art of processes.“Bereshit emerges from an initial sound as iffrom an absolute nothing, from a soundwhich subsides into percussive noises, fromwhich elements then disentangle themselvesand condense. It is a very organic piece, thematerial is treated quasi chronologically, it de-velops slowly. The composition emerges fromthe idea of freeing an entire compendium ofsounds, gestures, rhythms, orchestrationsfrom an original state of sound. There is a cen-tral note, an F, which opens the piece andstretches through the piece like a horizon.”

A genuine conception of processes, whichPintscher has developed in his most recentcompositions—such as the violin concertoMar’eh and the choral work she-cholat ahavaani, for example—becomes, as it were, the pro-gram here: “What interests me is the flowingsounds and colors, the conception of a sonor-ity in perspective. The piece is about this great

PLAYBILL

PROGRAM NOTES

river, about a continuum of sounds and eventswhich is continually transformed as the piecegrows. Only gradually do things solidify, andthere are solo episodes. Bereshit continueswhat I have developed in sonorities in recentyears. In its conception of sound and spatialeffect, this piece goes far beyond the chambermusic-like dimension of the ensemble forces.”

Marie Luise Maintz

Pintscherbeyond (a system of passing)for solo flute

Commissioned  by the Salzburg Foundation.Composed in 2013. Dedicated to EmmanuelPahud. Premièred on August 24, 2013, in theMozarteum at the Salzburger Festspiele,Salzburg, by Emmanuel Pahud.

Continuity and further development charac-terize Matthias Pintscher’s composing. In thisway, he continues concepts which he devel-oped in his flute concerto transir in beyond (asystem of passing) for flute solo, written for theSalzburg Festival: “With the flute, every noteis ‘bound to the breath’—no instrument artic-ulates as close to the stream of air itself. Theinstrument, vibrating in direct contact withhuman breath, as an extension of the streamof air, carries in it the archaic qualities of manycenturies, and creates a communicative bridgeto the present time.” Emanuel Pahud pre-mièred the work, which relates to AnselmKiefer’s installation A.E.I.O.U.

Marie Luise Maintz

Pierre Boulezsur Incisesfor three pianos, three harps, and three percussion

Composed in 1996–1998. Dedicated to PaulSacher, for his 90th anniversary and for thetenth birthday of the Paul Sacher Foundationin Basel. Premièred on August 30, 1998, inEdinburgh, by the Ensemble intercontemporainconducted by David Robertson.

Excerpt of a conversation between WolfgangFink and Pierre Boulez*:

FINK: I understand from what you are sayingthat you have also dealt intensively with the pianoover the past few years. Indeed, the piano plays animportant role in Répons. However, it seems thatthe composer Pierre Boulez has not devotedmuch of his attention to the piano since publish-ing his Third Sonata for piano and the secondbook of Structures in 1961. At least Incises, the firstpiece for piano alone, is rather short, extremelybrilliant, and with a sense of perpetual motion.Now, sur Incises originates from this piece andgoes beyond the scope of pure piano sound.

BOULEz: Yes, it is an ensemble for three pianoswhich in a way represent the main instruments,three harps and three percussions of certainpitch, also timpani, steel drums, glockenspiel,etc. I composed the piano piece Incises for theUmberto Micheli Piano Competition, which isgreatly supported by Maurizio Pollini. First, Ihad in mind to transform this piece into alonger one for Pollini and a group of instru-mentalists: a kind of piano concerto, althoughwithout reference to the traditional form. Theliterature in concerto form does not appeal tome anymore. Therefore I produced a piece forthree pianos, assuming that there already existsenough interesting literature for two pianos andensembles, especially in the modern age—take,for example, Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos andPercussion. (In my opinion, everybody wouldhave been reminded of this world if I had alsowritten a piece for two pianos.) I have also con-sidered the possibility of four pianos, since thisconstellation is very attractive and provides agood balance. But here Stravinsky serves asmodel, and I did not want to recite him throughthis very characteristic instrumentation. This isthe reason why I ended up with three pianos—incidentally, three pianists are part of our en-semble. I then thought about adding brassplayers, but there already exists a piece for brassinstruments, harp, and piano by Hindemith, soI rejected this idea. Another reason is that I didnot want to compose a piece for all families ofinstruments, like in Éclat. So I decided in favorof three percussion, particularly as we havethree percussionists in our ensemble. Only then

* “Hommage à Pierre Boulez,” program of the Alte OperFrankfurt, compiled by Wolfgang Fink and Josef Hausier,courtesy of Universal Edition.

PROGRAM NOTES

the idea of adding three harps occurred to me.Later, it came into my mind that this constellationcould have been invented by Elliott Carter, pro-viding the following theoretical order: three per-cussionists, three harps, three pianos, or piano I,harp I, percussion I, and any other conceivablecorrespondences. But as I have already men-tioned, I realized this Carteresque dimensiononly afterwards.

Consequently, my starting point was threepianos, three harps, three percussionists; alsothree times three, which is nine. And I com-posed this piece for the 90th birthday of PaulSacher, although this, you have to believe me[laughs], is pure coincidence. I did not choosenine instruments on purpose.

My original intention was to write the mainpart for the first piano. Having started thecomposition, I realized that this dispositiondoes not make any sense in a piece for threepianos, because, wanting to be consistent, Iwould have had to create a part for first harpand first percussion, which was not feasible.For this reason, the three piano parts elabo-rate to an extent on the same level.Unexpectedly, this has led to a very long piece.

FINK: Incises, however, is very short, and bydint of this shortness—this very conciseform—it takes the listener by complete sur-prise. In what respect do sur Incises and Incisesdiffer, since their congruence is so obvious?

BOULEz: You will remember that Incises beginswith this very free and flexible introduction, fol-lowed by this very, very quick part (which is attimes abruptly interrupted). But the character ofthis terrific movement is kept throughout. In surIncises, I have expanded, stretched this intro-duction a lot in terms of its duration. And I haveadded various forms of multiplication to thisvery brilliant cadence, from simple to sixfold andmultiple reflections resulting in a cadence whichis no longer wild as in Incises, but calm andbreathing regularly, due to these diverse figuresappearing in simple to complex modifications.So I have composed a cadenza for everybody,which is to be played without interruption at avery rapid speed and which is very difficult toperform. And then there is another part with atransition. In this part, the principles of the ca-dence are mixed with the introduction, this very

free introduction, actually, in a rather completeway, so that it is very difficult to judge which el-ements are taken from which area. This situa-tion changes with a recollection of the initialcadenza focusing on the three pianos in order todemonstrate on which kind of periodicity thecomplete action is based.

FINK: The pianos therefore obviously repre-sent the principal instruments. But are therealso transitions to be found or, let’s put it dif-ferently, do the harps or percussionists at timestake the role of the pianos or of one piano?

BOULEz: The percussions and also the harpsare at times completely integrated and some-times only play a minor role, it depends. Thereis one section where the pianos play an elabo-rate ostinato passage, thus a very strict compo-sitional structural form while the percussionistsplay very free figures at the same time. But youfind also moments when this role play is dividedup, such as that one piano and one percussion-ist play the free structures whereas the other pi-anos and percussionists have to follow the strictostinato movement, etc. Another attractive as-pect is that at times you encounter very quickchanges followed by sections of constant con-tinuous instrumental combinations. As to theharp, I have gained plenty of experience withthis instrument in Répons and have put thisknowledge into sur Incises. You can play theharp very fast if you do not use the pedals oronly very little. So the harps’ entries depend alot on the different kinds of speed at which thisinstrument can be handled. I was very surprisedby the powerful sound three harps can produce.By the way, I have emphasized the differentsound character of the instruments by posi-tioning them in a characteristic way. Thus, youcan see what you hear. I am really very happywith the sound combinations in this piece andalso with the way the rather exotic instrumentsare integrated. I don’t use steel drums for thesake of their exotic and folkloric color but be-cause of the fact that they exceed the usualbounds of the individual families of instru-ments. The question is what does that mean?Because this sound belongs to all families andto none at the same time.

Baden-Baden, September 18, 1998Translated by Dorit Luezak

PLAYBILL

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

COMPOSERS

After initial studies in orchestration, and analy-sis at the Regional Conservatory of Paris,Franck Bedrossian (born 1971) studied com-position closely with Allain Gaussin. He con-tinued his studies at the Paris Conservatory(seminars with Gérard Grisey and later MarcoStroppa), where upon graduation he receivedunanimously the first prize for analysis, and thefirst prize in composition. In 2002–2003, he wasin the IRCAM “cursus” for computer music andcomposition taught by Philippe Leroux, BrianFerneyhough, Tristan Murail, and PhilippeManoury. He also studied with HelmutLachenmann at Centre Acanthes in 1999 and atthe Ensemble Modern Academy in 2004.

His works have been played in Europe andrecently in the United States by such ensem-bles as l’Itineraire, 2e2m, Ictus, Court-Circuit,Cairn, Ensemble Modern, Alternance, theEnsemble intercontemporain, the OrchestreNational de Lyon, the San FranciscoContemporary Music Players, and the Daneland Diotima string quartets. His works havebeen performed at such festivals as Agora,Resonances, Manca, the RTE Living MusicFestival, l’Itinéraire de nuit, Ars Musica,Nuova Consonanza, Le Printemps des Arts deMonte-Carlo, le Festival International d’ArtLyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Fabbrica Europa,and Wien Modern. In 2001 he received a grantfrom the Meyer Foundation, and in 2004 hewon the Hervé-Dugardin prize of Sacem. In2005, the Institut de France (Académie desBeaux-Arts) awarded him the “Prix PierreCardin” for music composition.

Mr. Bedrossian has also received the youngcomposer’s prize from Sacem in 2007. He wasa Rome Prize Fellow at the Villa Medicis fromApril 2006 to April 2008. Since September2008, he has been Assistant Professor ofComposition at UC Berkeley. His works arepublished by Éditions Billaudot.

Born in 1925, Pierre Boulez can look back onmore than six decades of making music an es-sential part of the contemporary world. His

first compositions date back to the mid-1940s,when he had recently emerged from studies inParis with Olivier Messiaen, who encouragedhis technical acumen, his intensity, and alsohis curiosity about Asian and African, as wellas European, music. At the same time, lessonswith René Leibowitz, a Schoenberg andWebern scholar, introduced him to twelve-note composition, which he immediatelyadapted to his own purposes. His PianoSonata No. 2 (1947–1948), a work ofBeethovenian range and power, marked hiscreative coming of age.

The next step was a reduction, an exhaus-tive examination of the basic elements ofmusic in an attempt to make rhythmic values,loudness, and nuances of touch obey serialprinciples: This happened in the first sectionof his Structures I for two pianos (1952). Withthe knowledge gained, he could return tolarger issues in the later part of this work andin Le Marteau sans maître for contralto andmixed sextet (1953–1955), whose combina-tion of delectableness and stringency hasmade it a classic of modern music. A furtheropening-out produced the brilliant Pli selonpli (1957–1962), a portrait of the poetMallarmé in music for soprano and an or-chestra rich in percussion.

Mr. Boulez began to appear more and morefrequently as a conductor, using at first hisbrilliant mental and technical skills as a con-ductor of contemporary music, notably withthe Domaine Musical he founded in Paris; butrapidly he began to be engaged to conduct awider range of music, performing Wagner inBayreuth, Guillaume de Machaut in LosAngeles, and Beethoven in London. His ap-pointment in 1971 as Principal Conductor ofthe BBC Symphony Orchestra in London hadfar-reaching effects on the musical life ofBritain and Europe, while his acceptance ofthe Musical Director position of the New YorkPhilharmonic had an equally stimulating ef-fect on American music, posts he held until1975 and 1977, respectively.

A few important works were achieved dur-ing this period, and seemed to thrive on his

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

contact with the orchestra and with the art ofconducting: notably Eclat/Multiples (1970)and Rituel (1974–1975). In the mid-1970s,however, he decided to reduce his conductingcommitments drastically in order to concen-trate on work at the Institute for Research andCoordination Acoustic/Music (IRCAM) hefounded at the request of President GeorgesPompidou. There, his contact with computertechnicians and musicians was brought tobear in the composition of Répons (1981–1984), followed by another electronic project,...explosante-fixe... (1991–1993), for MIDIflute, two solo-flutes, ensemble, and electron-ics. At the end of 1991, Boulez left his posi-tion as director of IRCAM, maintaining histies with the institute by accepting the title ofHonorary Director.

Once again conducting on a regular basis,he created a close relationship with outstand-ing American and European orchestras.Among many others, he conducted the inau-gural concert of the Cité de la musique at LaVillette; a four-orchestra Boulez Festival inTokyo; prestigious worldwide tours with theLondon Symphony Orchestra celebrating his70th, 75th, and 80th birthdays; and new pro-ductions of Schoenberg’s Moses and Aron withPeter Stein; Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle withPina Bausch; a De Falla–Stravinsky–Schoenberg production staged by KlausMichael Grüber; and returns to Bayreuth in2004 and 2005 to conduct Parsifal in a stag-ing by Christoph Schlingensief. The year 2007saw his renewed and highly acclaimed collab-oration with Patrice Chéreau for the stagingof Janáček’s opera From the House of the Deadin Vienna, Amsterdam, and Aix-en-Provence.After being the “grand invité” of the mostprestigious Louvre Museum in November2008, he was the composer in residence at theMozartwoche in Salzburg. In May 2009, heperformed, together with Daniel Barenboim,the complete symphonic works of Mahler inCarnegie Hall. Conducting the most presti-gious orchestras, his 85th birthday yearbrought him to Chicago, New York,Cleveland, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, among

others. In 2011, he recorded the Liszt pianoconcertos with Mr. Barenboim and Mahler’sDas klagende Lied with the ViennaPhilharmonic, and directed the LucerneFestival Academy before conducting hisprominent work Pli selon pli on tour. He con-tinued his collaboration with the LucerneFestival in 2012, 2013, and 2014. This year,among many celebrations, sees him receivinga special Grammy Award for LifetimeAchievement and being elected an honorarycitizen of the town of Baden-Baden, Germany,and an honorary member of the SWRSymphony Orchestra.

After signing an exclusive contract withDeutsche Grammophon in 1992, Mr. Boulezdevoted a considerable amount of his timerecording important works of the 20th century.His recordings have won 27 Grammy Awardsand many ECHO Klassik, Gramophone, andDeutsche Schallplatten awards.

At the same time, he continued his work asa composer, writing Incises (1994), Sur incises(1996–1998), Anthèmes 2 (1997), NotationsVII (1998), and Dérive 2 (2006), as well as as-suming the Composer’s Chair at CarnegieHall and the position of Conductor Emeritusof the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Acclaimed worldwide, Mr. Boulez has hadmany honorary doctorates conferred uponhim. He is the recipient of numerous prizes,including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize,Léonie Sonning Music Prize, PræmiumImperiale, Kyoto Music Prize, Polar MusicPrize, Wolf Prize, Giga-Hertz Prize,Grawemeyer Award, and BBVA FoundationFrontiers of Knowledge Award.

Edmund Campion (born 1957) spent hisformative years at Columbia University inNew York and at IRCAM in Paris. At IRCAM,he composed Losing Touch for vibraphone andelectronics (1995). He was eventually com-missioned by IRCAM for the full-scale ballet,Playback; the meta-compositional environ-ment for piano and computer, Nat-Sel; and awork for improvising saxophone and interac-tive computer system, Corail. In 2012, as the

PLAYBILL

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Composer in Residence with the Santa RosaSymphony, and to celebrate the opening of theGreen Music Center, he composed The LastInternal Combustion Engine, a full-scale con-certo grosso with electronics and the KronosQuartet. Joshua Kosman of the San FranciscoChronicle called the piece “a vivid and richlyimagined concerto.” In 2014, the AmericanComposers Orchestra released a CD of hiswork Practice, for orchestra and electronics.

Renowned international ensembles havecollaborated with Mr. Campion, including LesPercussions de Strasbourg, which commis-sioned and released Wavelike and Diverse ontheir 50th anniversary CD set. Other pre-mières of his work include Auditory Fiction(2011), commissioned by Société Générale forRadio France; Small Wonder (The ButterflyEffect) in 2012, commissioned by the SergeKoussevitzky Foundation for the SanFrancisco Contemporary Music Players; andAuditory Fiction II, written for the EcoEnsemble for the 2014 Venice Music Biennale.In 2012, Mr.  Campion was awarded theGoddard Lieberson Fellowship given by theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters to a“composer of exceptional gift.” His otherprizes, from a long list of accolades, includethe American Rome Prize and the LiliBoulanger Prize. Mr. Campion is currentlyProfessor of Music Composition at UCBerkeley and Director at the Center for NewMusic and Audio Technologies.

A monograph CD of Mr. Campion’s worksby the San Francisco Contemporary MusicPlayers, with David Milnes, is available onAlbany Records.

Current projects include Cluster.X, a co-commissioned piece written for the Ensembleintercontemporain in collaboration with au-diovisual artist Kurt Hentschläger. Cluster.Xpremièred in Paris on October 9, 2015, and willtour to the United States for performances inBerkeley on November 9, 2015, and in ChapelHill, North Carolina, on November 10, 2015.

Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen,Switzerland, in 1954 and received his first

musical training on piano at the Music Schoolthere. After moving to Vienna in 1975, hestudied conducting with Otmar Suitner andcomposition with Roman HaubenstockRamati at the Hochschule für Musik undDarstellende Kunst. In 1985, he founded theKlangforum Wien, which he directed until1992, and with which he is still associated asconductor. Commissioned by the Vienna StateOpera, he composed his first opera,Die Blinden. His second opera, Narcissus,was premièred in 1994 as part of theSteirischer Herbst Festival at the Graz Opera.In 1996, he was composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival. His music theaterwork Begehren was premièred in Graz in 2001,the opera  Invocation in zürich in 2003, and the sound-theater piece  FAMA inDonaueschingen in 2005.

In 1991, Mr. Furrer became a full profes-sor of composition at the Hochschule fürMusik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. Heserved as guest professor in composition at theHochschule für Musik und DarstellendeKunst in Frankfurt from 2006 to 2009.Together with violinist Ernst Kovacic, hefounded impuls, an International Ensembleand Composers Academy for ContemporaryMusic.  In 2004 he was awarded the MusicPrize of the City of Vienna, and in 2005 he be-came a member of the Academy of Arts inBerlin. He was awarded the Golden Lion at theVenice Biennale in 2006 for FAMA. In 2010,his music-theater work Wüstenbuch was pre-mièred in Basel. In 2014, he was awarded theGreat Austrian State Prize. His latest opera, LaBianca Notte, based on texts by DinoCampana,  was premièred in Hamburg inspring 2015. He is currently working on a newopera Violetter Schnee (“Violet Snow”), basedon a Libretto by Vladimir Sorokin. Since the1980s, Mr. Furrer has composed a wide rangeof works, from solo and ensemble music to or-chestral and choral works and opera. He iswell known for his nuanced exploration of thehuman voice and its relationship to instru-mental sound.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Chicago-based Austrian artist KurtHentschläger (born 1960) creates audiovisualinstallations and performances. Between 1992and 2003, he worked collaboratively withinthe artist duo Granular-Synthesis.

Mr. Hentschläger’s works have characteris-tically been visceral and immersive, as in ZEEand FEED, with extreme perceptual effects,composed from light, sound, and fog. Theseworks physiologically transport the viewerquite literally into another world.

His CLUSTER series builds on the uncanny,by portraying 3D representations of hu-manoid creatures that can only exist in dy-namic flux, seeming to swirl and flow like thewind, apparently unhinged from the screenthat they are projected on. His most recent,emerging body of work is tracing the percep-tion of “nature” in the 21st century.

Selected presentations of his works includethe Venice Biennial, the Venice TheaterBiennial, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, PS1New York, Creative Time, Inc., in New York,Musée d’Art Contemporain in Montreal,Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, NationalArt zKM Karlsruhe, Museum of ChinaBeijing, National Museum for ContemporaryArt Seoul, ICC Tokyo, Laboratorio ArteAlameda in Mexico City, and the Museum ofOld and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania.

Most recently he works on large-scale in-stallations. In 2012 he was commissioned, aspart of the Cultural Program of the 2012London Olympics/London Festival, to createCORE, a large-scale, symphonic installation,and in 2015 he created ORT, an outdoor pro-jection project in Le Havre, on OscarNiemeyer’s Le Volcan.

In 2010, Mr. Hentschläger won the QuartzMedia Art Award in Paris. He is currently afull-time Visiting Artist at the School of theArt Institute of Chicago.

Matthias Pintscher (see bio under performers).

Composer, researcher, and teacher MarcoStroppa (born 1959, in Verona) studied musicin Italy (obtaining diplomas in piano, choral

music and direction, composition, and elec-tronic music) and pursued further studies atMIT’s Media Laboratory (computer science,cognitive psychology, and artificial intelli-gence). Between 1980 and 1984, he worked atthe Center for Computational Sonology inPadua, where he wrote Traiettoria, a workwhich immediately met with considerablesuccess and which continues to be per-formed regularly.

In 1982, he was invited by Pierre Boulez tojoin IRCAM in Paris. His uninterrupted asso-ciation with the institute has been crucial forhis musical growth.

A highly respected educator, Mr. Stroppafounded the composition course at the BartókFestival in Szombathély, Hungary, where hetaught for 13 years, meeting great Hungarianmusicians—such as Péter Eötvös, zoltánKocsis, and György Kurtág—and discoveringthe splendid work of innumerable poets.

Since 1999, Mr. Stroppa has been professorof composition in Stuttgart, where he suc-ceeded Helmut Lachenmann.

Often assembled in the form of thematiccycles, Mr. Stroppa’s works draw inspirationfrom a wide range of experiences: his readingof poetic and mythological texts, a thoughtfulengagement in ecological and sociopoliticalissues—in the tradition of Dallapiccola, Nono,and the Italian Resistance—the study of eth-nomusicology and his personal contact withthe performers for whom he writes, includingPierre-Laurent Aimard.

Mr. Stroppa has also created a theatricalwork, Re Orso, based on a text by ArrigoBoito, that was premièred in May 2012 at the Opéra Comique in Paris and La Monnaiein Brussels.

Edgard Varèse (1883–1865) was born in Paristo a French mother. However, it is through thecomposer’s relationship with his father, anItalian engineer, that Varèse tells his radicalversion of his upbringing: a positive, almostscientific retelling, animated by a wrenchingdesire for the modern present. Engineer: thisis certainly the scientific model that the

PLAYBILL

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

composer would never deny. But in 1903,when the composer was only 20 years old, heleft the Polytechnic School in Turin and re-turned to Paris. He immediately broke all re-lations with his father, as he would laterradically break all links with musical tradition.In the memory of his father, Varèse kept theverve of scientific enlightenment and rejectionthe law. Regarding his own history, the com-poser kept the spirit of prophetic light and de-nounced patrimonial weight.

Back in Paris, he studied with Vincentd’Indy at the Schola Cantorum until 1905.Afterwards, he studied with Charles-MarieWidor at the Paris Conservatory from 1905 to1907. In Berlin, Varèse met Ferruccio Busoni,who would later advise the young composerto “first find [his] own forms.” Upon return-ing to Paris, he attended the première ofStravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913), whosepowerful obstinatos would shake and influ-ence Varèse for years to come.

On December 29, 1915, after being dis-couraged by the “aesthetic cautiousness of hisnative land,” Varèse moved to the UnitedStates. His work Amériques (first edition,1918–1921), still under Stravinsky’s influence,would symbolize the rupture, the entrance ofthe “New World” aesthetic. More than a meregeographical shift, the composer’s immigra-tion to the United States prompted him to seekout new career opportunities. In 1919, drivenby a strong sense of enthusiasm, Varèsefounded and conducted the New SymphonyOrchestra, which introduced many modernmasterpieces to the West. Varèse also createdthe International Composers’ Guild, which al-lowed him to première his own works:Offrandes in 1922, Hyperprism in 1923,Octandre in 1924, and Intégrales in 1925. Hispassion for science, technology, and electronicinstruments was still in its infancy.

Between 1928 and 1933, back in France,Varèse frequented the Parisian avant-garde

scene of poet Jean Cocteau and his friends(Picasso, among others). Through the com-poser’s newly found place within the mostwell-known avant-garde circle of his country,he was introduced to the new “OndesMartenot” (a French electronic instrument),and integrated it into his work Amériques.Varèse also experimented with the theremin,another electronic instrument that found its wayinto Ecuatorial (first version, 1932–1934), be-fore substituting in the Ondes Martenot in 1961.

Varèse returned to the United States in 1934and began a long frustrating journey. In theUnited States, he met Léon Theremin (though“Lev Sergeyevich Termen” abruptly retreatedback to the Soviet Union in 1938), but theRussian refused the composer’s request to de-velop the instrument. This setback is likely em-blematic of this disappointing period. For thenext 16 years, Varèse wrote little music. Hetried out several failed experiments (particu-larly in the promising field of film music), andmoved between many western American cities(Santa Fe, San Francisco, Los Angeles) beforeeventually returning to New York in 1941.

However, at the beginning of the 1950s, theadvancements in electronics undoubtedlybreathed new hope into the composer, and hewas inspired by many pioneering achieve-ments. His piece Déserts, scored for orchestraand recorded magnetic tape, was one of thefirst “mixed works.” It was presented at theBrussels World Fair along with Varèse’s fa-mous Poème électronique (1958) and the workof Le Corbusier and Xenakis. This artisticcombination of music and architecture ap-peared to be one of the first forms of “instal-lation.” Before his death in 1965, Varèsereceived several awards in the United Statesand taught at the Darmstadt SummerCourses. The world of European avant-garde,with Boulez being the first, finally recognizedhim during his lifetime as a major figureahead of his time.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

PERFORMERS

In 1976, Pierre Boulez founded the Ensembleintercontemporain with the support ofMichel Guy (who was the Minister of Culture)and the collaboration and Nicholas Snowman.

The Ensemble’s 31 soloists share a passionfor 20th- and 21st-century music. They areemployed on permanent contract, enablingthem to fulfill the major aims of the Ensemble:performance, creation, and education foryoung musicians and the general public.

Under the artistic direction of MatthiasPintscher the musicians work in close collab-oration with composers, exploring instru-mental techniques and developing projectsthat interweave music, dance, theater, film,video and visual arts.

In collaboration with the Institut de Rechercheet Coordination Acoustique/Musique, theEnsemble intercontemporain is also active inthe field of synthetic sound generation. Newpieces are commissioned and performed on aregular basis.

The Ensemble is renowned for its strongemphasis on music education: concerts forkids, creative workshops for students, train-ing programs for future performers, conduc-tors, composers, etc. Since 2004, Ensemblesoloists have been tutoring young instrumen-talists, conductors, and composers in the fieldof contemporary repertoire at the Lucerne

Festival Academy, a several-week educationalproject held by the Lucerne Festival.

Resident of the Philharmonie de Paris, theEnsemble performs and records in France andabroad, taking part in major festivals world-wide. The Ensemble is financed by theMinistry of Culture and Communication andreceives additional support from the ParisCity Council.

Matthias Pintscher is the Music Director ofthe Ensemble intercontemporain. Beginning inthe 2016–2017 season he also takes up the postof Principal Conductor of the Lucerne FestivalAcademy. He continues his partnerships with

Fran

k Fe

rvill

e

Mat

thia

s Bau

s

PLAYBILL

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as itsArtist-in-Association, and with the DanishNational Symphony Orchestra as Artist-in-Residence. Equally accomplished as conductorand composer, Mr. Pintscher has created sig-nificant works for the world’s leading orches-tras and regularly conducts throughout Europe,the United States, and Australia.

Highlights of his 2015–2016 season includeconducting débuts with the BerlinPhilharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Los AngelesChamber Orchestra, and Prague Philharmonia;a U.S. tour with the Ensemble Intercontem-porain; and the première of his new cello con-certo by the Danish National Symphony andAlisa Weilerstein. Last season, Mr. Pintschermade débuts with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic, the National SymphonyOrchestra, and the Symphonieorchester desBayerischen Rundfunks.

Mr. Pintscher’s successful and prolific com-positions is championed by some of today’sfinest performing artists, orchestras, and con-ductors. His works have been performed bysuch orchestras as the Chicago Symphony,Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic,Philadelphia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic,London Symphony, and the Orchestre deParis. His works are published exclusively byBärenreiter, and recordings of his composi-tions can be found on Kairos, EMI, Teldec,Wergo, and Winter & Winter.

Mr. Pintscher also works regularly withleading contemporary music ensembles suchas the Scharoun Ensemble, Klangforum Wien,Ensemble Modern, and Avanti (Helsinki). Hehas curated the music segment of the ImpulsRomantik Festival in Frankfurt since 2011,and in September 2014 joined the composi-tion faculty at the Juilliard School.

Odile Auboin (viola) graduated from the ParisConservatory with top honors in two fields(alto and chamber music) in 1991. As the re-cipient of a Lavoisier Research Fellowship fromthe French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and agrant from the Ministry of Culture, she studiedat Yale University then went on to perfect her

training with Bruno Giuranna at the StaufferFoundation of Cremona in Italy, and wasawarded at the Bucchi InternationalCompetition in Rome. In 1995, she joined theEnsemble intercontemporain. Her interest increation and position as soloist with theEnsemble intercontemporain gave her the op-portunity to work closely with major com-posers of the second half of the 20th century,such as György Kurtág and Pierre Boulez, withwhom she recorded Le Marteau sans maître forDeutsche Grammophon and created Anthèmesfor alto at the Avignon Festival. She also workswith composers from the new generation suchas Ivan Fedele, Marin Matalon, Michael Jarrelland Bruno Mantovani. She is highly active inthe field of chamber music and has premièredworks by Bruno Mantovani, Marco Stroppaand Philippe Schœller. A penchant for trans-versality in the various forms of artistic expres-sion has led her to participate in projectsinvolving visual arts and dance. Her albumsalso include André Jolivet’s Églogues as well asworks by Bruno Mantovani.

Ms. Auboin is a state certified music pro-fessor and teaches regularly at internationalacademies in Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne,and New York. She plays on a A21 viola cre-ated by Patrick Charton.

A graduate of the Music and DanceConservatory of Lyon, Alain Billard (bassclarinet, contrabass clarinets) joined theEnsemble intercontemporain in 1995, inwhich he performs mainly as bass clarinetist,but also playing clarinet, basset horn, and con-trabass clarinet.

An internationally acclaimed soloist, he hasworked with several contemporary and 20th-century composers, including Pierre Boulez,Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and KarlheinzStockhausen, as well as Philippe Manoury,Michael Jarrell, Pascal Dusapin, BrunoMantovani, and Yann Robin.

Regularly invited as guest soloist by leadingnational and international orchestras,Mr. Billard has premièred and recorded manyworks, including Machine for Contacting the

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dead (2001) by Lisa Lim; Génération (2002);a triple concerto for three clarinets by Jean-Louis Agobet; Mit Ausdruck (2003), a con-certo for bass clarinet and orchestra byMantovani; Décombres by Raphael Cendo(2007); Art of Metal I, II, III (2007–2008) byYann Robin, for contrabass clarinet, chamberorchestra and, electronics; del reflejo de lasombra (2010) by Alberto Posadas  withQuatuor Diotima; and La Grammatica del sof-fio (2011) by Matteo Franceschini.

Mr. Billard is a founding member of theNocturne Wind Quintet, with which he wonfirst prize for Chamber Music at theConservatory of Lyon, second prize at theARD of Munich, and the Chamber MusicAward of Osaka. With violist Odile Auboinand pianist Hideki Nagano, he created theTrio Modulations for which Mantovani,Marco Stroppa, and Philippe Schoeller havealready penned new works.

Mr. Billard is very active in the research anddevelopment of new instrumental techniques.He regularly collaborates with IRCAM andthe manufacturer Selmer. His participation inthe Ensemble’s educational program foryoung people and future music professionalsbear witness to his firm commitment to musictransmission in all forms.

Sophie Cherrier studied at the NationalConservatory of Nancy (class of Jacques Mule)and the Paris Conservatory, where she wonfirst prizes in flute (class of Alain Marion) andchamber music (class of Christian Lardé). Shejoined the Ensemble intercontemporain in1979. She has collaborated on many premières,among them Mémoriale by Pierre Boulez(Erato), Esprit rude/Esprit doux by ElliottCarter (Erato), and Chu Ky V by Ton-ThâtTiêt. Ms. Cherrier has recorded Sequenza I byLuciano Berio (Deutsche Grammophon);…explosante fixe… (Deutsche Grammophon)and the Sonatine for flute and piano by PierreBoulez (Erato); Imaginary Skylines for fluteand harp by Ivan Fedele (Adès); and Jupiterand La Partition du ciel et de l’Enfer by PhilippeManoury (of the collection “Composers of

Today”). She has worked with the HalléOrchestra of Manchester, the ClevelandOrchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, theLondon Sinfonietta, and the BerlinPhilharmonic. Ms. Cherrier has been a pro-fessor at the Paris Conservatory since 1998and has given many master classes in Franceand abroad.

At the age of 18, Éric-Maria Couturier (cello)entered the Paris Conservatory in first placein Roland Pidoux’s class, where he receivedthe highest honors in cello and a master’s inchamber music in Christian Ivaldi’s class.

He was awarded First Prize and the SpecialPrize in the Trapani Competition, SecondPrize in Trieste and Third Prize of Florencealong with pianist Laurent Wagschal, withwhom he recorded an album devoted toFrench music in the early 20th century.

At 23, he joined the Paris Orchestra thenbecame first-chair soloist with the BordeauxNational Orchestra. Since 2002, he has been asoloist with the Ensemble intercontemporain.

Mr. Couturier has played for the greatestconductors of our day, including Sir GeorgSolti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlo MariaGiulini, Lorin Maazel, and Pierre Boulez.

Member of Trio Talweg, he is soloist in thecello concertos of Haydn, Dvořák, Eötvös,and Kurtág. His experience with chambermusic has been enriched by playing with suchpianists as Maurizio Pollini, Jean-ClaudePennetier, and Shani Diluka.

In the realm of improvisation, he plays withjazz singer David Linx, DJ ErikM, singerLaika Fatien, and double-bass player Jean-Philippe Viret, with whom he recorded hislatest album in quartet. Mr. Couturier has alsorecorded an album with the octet LesVioloncelles Français for the label Mirare. Heplays on a Frank Ravatin cello.

Born in 1956 in Portland, Oregon, JensMcManama (horn) made his soloist début atage 13 with the Seattle Orchestra. Followinghis studies in Cleveland with horn playerMyron Bloom, he was engaged as a soloist in

PLAYBILL

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

1974 at La Scala in Milan under the baton ofClaudio Abbado. He joined the Ensemble in-tercontemporain in 1979. He has been a mem-ber of the Nielsen Wind Quintet since 1982.In Baden-Baden 1988, he premièred the hornversion of ln Freundschaft by KarlheinzStockhausen. He has taken part in a largenumber of chamber music premières, such asBagatelles by Jean-Baptiste Devillers (for hornand piano).

Mr. McManama has been teaching cham-ber music at the Conservatoire NationalSupérieur de Musique de Paris since 1994. Heregularly leads workshops for young musi-cians, notably at the American Conservatoryin Fontainebleau and at Saint-Céré, as well ascontemporary music master classes in Franceand the United States. A soloist, chamber, andorchestra musician, Mr. McManama is alsodrawn to conducting ensembles. He has cre-ated a show in collaboration with EugèneDurif entitled Litanies, Fatrasies, Charivari,which was first performed at the Cité de lamusique in 2004, and then reopened in 2006with the title Cuivres et Fantaisies.

Emmanuelle Ophèle (flute, bass flute) beganher musical training at the Angoulême Écolede Musique. From the age of 13, she studiedwith Patrick Gallois and Ida Ribera, then withMichel Debost at the Paris Conservatoire,where she was awarded a first prize for flute. Ms. Ophèle joined the Ensemble inter-contemporain when she was 20 years old.Keenly interested in developing the repertoireand in new technology-based areas of expres-sion, she soon began to play a part in newworks using the most recent technology: LaPartition du ciel et de l’enfer for MIDI flute andMIDI piano by Philippe Manoury (recordedby Adès) and ...explosante fixe... for MIDI flute,two flutes, and instrumental ensemble byPierre Boulez (recorded by DeutscheGrammophon). She was also featured on the

recording of Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître(Deutsche Grammophon, 2005, conducted bythe composer).

Awarded the Certificate of Aptitude forArtistic Education, Ms. Ophèle teaches at theMontreuil-sous-Bois Conservatoire and is in-vited to many different academies, includingAix-en-Provence, Lucerne, Suc et Sentenac,and Val d’Isère. An important part of herteaching is the exploration of a broad reper-toire, ranging from baroque to contemporary,jazz, and improvisation.

Born in 1970, Jean-Christophe Vervoitte(horn) studied horn with Georges Barboteuand chamber music with Maurice Bourgue atthe Conservatoire National Supérieur deMusique de Paris. Parallel to his instrumentaltraining, he studied harmony and analysiswith Jean-Claude Raynaud and conductingwith Jean-Sébastien Béreau. He began work-ing as a chamber and orchestra musician withthe Prague Mozart Foundation and theOrchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.Jean-Christophe Vervoitte joined theEnsemble intercontemporain in 1993 and thefollowing year performed at the Teatro allaScala in Milan under the baton of PierreBoulez in Duo en resonance, for two horns andensemble, by Ivan Fedele. Since then, his in-terest in 20th-century music has led him toperform at renowned theaters throughoutEurope, as well as in Tokyo and Los Angeles.He has taken part in numerous premières, in-cluding Bruno Mantovani’s Das erschafft derDichter nicht alongside Barbara Hendricks. InFebruary 2006, he premièred a work for hornand ensemble by Marc Monnet entitledMouvement, autre mouvement (en forme d’é-tudes). Jean-Christophe Vervoitte is also pas-sionate about teaching: he has taught at theAcadémie du XXe siècle located at the Cité dela musique, and has given several masterclasses at Carnegie Hall.