496K

For Immediate Release

CMC joins Europe-wide new music network with Crash Ensemble, and The Galway Music Residency and the ensemble in residence, ConTempo Quartet

24 October 2012

The Contemporary Music Centre is to participate in a major European initiative designed to encourage the exchange of repertoire between countries and to develop audiences for new music. CMC will be the lead Irish Partner in the New Music: New Audiences project, with Crash Ensemble and The Galway Music Residency and the ensemble in residence, ConTempo Quartet as the participating Irish Ensembles.

Over the next two years, New Music: New Audiences will involve 17 countries, 16 national music organisations and 31 ensembles and orchestras cooperating intensively across borders for the purposes of researching and developing new concert forms and new ways of disseminating contemporary music. The Contemporary Music Centre will be supported by Culture Ireland as it takes part in this large-scale European cultural project. During the first six month of 2013 this major initiative will feature as part of Ireland's EU Presidency Culture Programme.

Over the course of the project, the 31 ensembles will form 'working groups', performing the music of each other's countries and meeting to share experience and collaborate creatively on new ways to present concerts and engage with audiences. The result will be a series of concerts across Europe, beginning in the spring of 2013.

Participating European ensembles include Athelas Sinfonietta (DK), Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (FI), Court Circuit (FR), ensemble recherche (D), Klangforum Wien (AUT) and London Sinfonietta (UK).

Participating ensembles will each provide a selection of works by composers from their countries, as well as sharing their experience of presenting new music in new settings. As a result, more than 100 contemporary works will be circulated between European partners. It is hoped that the project will create increased exposure for the music of Irish composers across Europe, whilst also creating opportunities for Irish audiences to hear new European works.

New Music: New Audiences has arisen out of the ongoing search to develop and engage with new audiences in contemporary music, whether through the inclusion of other art forms or performance in non-traditional spaces, with producers reassessing the act of performance in the 21st century. The project aims to strengthen the concert experience and define new concert forms that are in tune with a contemporary audience. The 31 ensembles, which include many of Europe's most talented musicians, will engage in more than 50 concerts, each prepared in close collaboration with other participants in the project. Though different in style and size, the ensembles share a devotion to contemporary European art music, and a strong desire to engage a new audience for this music.

New Music: New Audiences will be officially launched at a conference attended by all the participants on 24-25 October in Brussels during the World Music Days.

For further information, please contact Sam Wilcock, Promotion Manager, Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8, Ireland (tel: +353 (0)1 673 1922 / swilcock@cmc.ie / www.cmc.ie)

NOTES FOR EDITORS

New Music: New Audiences

A full list of participating organisations and ensembles can be found at: www.newaud.eu

Crash Ensemble

Crash Ensemble is Ireland's foremost contemporary music ensemble; a group of world-class musicians who play the most adventurous, ground-breaking new music of today. Founded in 1997 by composer and Artistic Director Donnacha Dennehy, the Ensemble features on recordings by labels such as NMC, Cantaloupe and most recently Nonesuch, with the release of Grá agus Bás by Donnacha Dennehy in May 2011 which has received international praise including five stars from The Guardian (UK). The Ensemble has worked with many well-known artists from diverse musical backgrounds, such as Steve Reich, Gavin Friday, Dawn Upshaw, Terry Riley, David Lang, Íarla Ó Lionáird, Julie Feeney, Gerald Barry, Gavin Bryars, Michael Gordon and Louis Andriessen. The Ensemble is committed to broadening the repertoire on offer to audiences by commissioning, producing and performing new or recent works by internationally acclaimed composers, up-and-coming composing talents and collaborating with culturally relevant artists. As well as performing regularly throughout Ireland, Crash has appeared in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the UK, Australia, USA and Canada. Upcoming performances include a three date residency at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November 2012, which includes opening the festival with a portrait of ensemble co-artistic director Donnacha Dennehy. The ensemble will also play Carnegie Hall, NYC The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC, and Princeton University as part of the 2013 US Tour.
www.crashensemble.com

Galway New Music Residency and ConTempo Quartet

The Galway Music Residency delivers a year round performance, education and community based programme of events which includes visits by the Galway Ensemble in Residence, ConTempo Quartet, to local schools and universities, mini-residencies for guest artists from Ireland, Europe and other parts of the world, as well as monthly free concerts in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, on the first Tuesday of every month. Recognised as one of the world's top string quartets, ConTempo Quartet are Bogdan Sofei, violin, Ingrid Nicola, violin, Andreea Banciu, viola and Adrian Mantu, cello. ConTempo was formed in 1995 in Bucharest, Romania and became Galway's first ensemble-in-residence in 2003. The Galway Music Residency, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary during its 2012-13 season, is supported by The Arts Council, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway University Foundation, Bank of Ireland, Galway City and County Councils and Friends of The Galway Music Residency.
www.thegalwaymusicresidency.ie

The Contemporary Music Centre
The Contemporary Music Centre is Ireland's national archive and resource centre for new music, supporting the work of composers throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland. It engages in an ongoing programme of development work to promote new Irish music at home and abroad, and is a member of the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC). The Centre is used, nationally and internationally, by performers, composers, promoters and members of the public interested in finding out more about music in Ireland. Its library and sound archive, open to the public free of charge, contain the only comprehensive collection in existence of music by Irish composers. Extensive reference and advice services are available and the Centre's website provides access to CMC's resources for those who cannot visit in person.
www.cmc.ie