Ensemble of the season

Basel-based ensemble eeek is Gare du Nord’s Ensemble of the Season 26/27. It brings together musicians who first met while studying in the specialised Master’s programme in contemporary music at the FHNW School of Music Basel. Years of working together have shaped an ensemble that understands contemporary music as a vital expression of the present and allows the interests and perspectives of its members to inform its artistic practice.

Collaboration shapes not only the ensemble’s music-making, but its entire way of working. Programmes and concepts are developed and curated collectively, and whenever possible, the ensemble performs without a conductor. Its focus lies on the music of the immediate present and on direct exchange with composers, who create new works specifically for the ensemble. At the same time, ensemble eeek embraces interdisciplinary approaches and dialogue with other art forms.

As Ensemble of the Season, ensemble eeek presents two concert programmes at Gare du Nord. «Absent Presence» explores questions of memory, visibility and artistic identity, placing women composers from Basel’s contemporary music scene at the centre. With «(Basel) Memory Space», the ensemble turns to Alvin Lucier and his influential understanding of sound, space and listening.

The ensemble: Clara Giner Franco (flute), Martijn Susla (clarinet), Marc Baltrons Fàbregas (saxophone), Adrián Albaladejo Díaz (trombone), Alexandre Silva (percussion), Raphaëlle Proust (piano), Ioanna Boultadaki (violin), Elijah Spies (viola), James Morley (cello), Pietro Elia Barcellona (double bass), Ferran Planas Pla (artistic director)