Ensemble Modern

The Ensemble Modern was founded in 1980 and is now considered one of the world’s leading New Music ensembles. The group is located in Frankfurt am Main and unites eighteen soloists of very different origins: Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Poland and Switzerland. They are noted for their unique style of working and dealing with organisational questions. They have no artistic director. Consequently, and decisions about projects, guest musicians, co-productions and financial matters are all made and implemented jointly. Each member brings his own experiences and preferences into the decision-making process, creating a programme with a unique spectrum of art forms: music theatre and chamber music concerts, dance and video projects, ensemble and orchestral concerts. This approach has led to joint projects with Heiner Goebbels and Frank Zappa, as well as with Bill Viola and Steve Reich. The Ensemble Modern give about one hundred concerts a year, working in close co-operation with composers. They also strive for the greatest authenticity. Each year they perform seventy works on average, of which some twenty are premières.

Ganesh Anandan combines his classical drumming technique with popular contemporary (western) aesthetics. He was born in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, where he also grew up. There he studied Carnatic music of southern India for many years. In 1967 he emigrated to Canada, where he studied western classical music theory and ethnomusicology. Ganesh Anandan is a composer, improviser and the creator of some original instruments, as well as being an extraordinary drummer who has specialised in his own finger-drumming language, which he refers to as ‘fingerworks’. In 1996 he made a series of percussion instruments, all based on the Indian 22-shruti system (22 intervals), with the aid of the sculptor and woodcarver Nicholas Monroe.