NOW Ensemble is a dynamic young group of performers and composers dedicated to making new chamber music for the 21st century. With our unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass, and piano, NOW Ensemble brings a fresh sound and a new perspective to the classical tradition, infused with a blend of musical influences that reflects the diverse backgrounds and listening experiences of our members.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE (b. 8 September 1934), is a British composer and conductor. His surname is "Davies", and "Maxwell" is his middle name. To his friends, Davies is known as "Max". Davies was born in Salford, England. He took piano lessons and composed from an early age. After education at Leigh Grammar School, he studied at the University of Manchester and at the Royal Manchester College of Music (amalgamated into the Royal Northern College of Music in 1973), where his fellow students included Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Elgar Howarth and John Ogdon.
The Ulster Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Belfast, the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It gives concerts across Northern Ireland, including performances at the Belfast Festival, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Since 1985, the Orchestra has been a regular visitor to The Proms. The orchestra currently employs 63 full-time musicians and 17 administrative support staff.
Giya Kancheli (გია ყანჩელი), born 10 August 1935 in Tbilisi, is a Georgian composer resident in Belgium. Kancheli is his country's most famous living composer and arguably its best-known cultural export. His music is very communicative and immediate and often has a spiritual quality, which leads some to compare him (not always helpfully) to composers such as Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. There are several instances of folk and religious inspiration in his music, notably in the opening to the Third Symphony or his more recent work Magnum Ignotum...
The Balanescu Quartet is a London-based avant-garde string quartet founded in 1987 by Romanian-born violinist Alexander Bălănescu. The group achieved fame through the release of Possessed, consisting of complex cover versions of songs by German experimental electronic music band Kraftwerk. The driving force behind the quartet has always been main composer and founder Alexander Balanescu. The quartet are mainly notable for their very distinctive style of music, which encompasses odd time rhythms, sound dissonances and complex arrangements.
Stars of the Lid are a band specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk (both bands have tracks named "Taphead"), post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their music largely consists of beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs.
1. - Nagyszentmiklos March 25, 1881–New York September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist, considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
2. There is also a Post-Punk band from the 1980's that went by this name. Bartok was comprised of John Grant, Simon Werner, Jah Wobble, and Rat Scabies.
When posed the question: „What could a musikFabrik be?“, a clever primary school child answered: „That is where they create music that hasn’t been made yet“. That basically sums up everything in a nutshell. MusikFabrik has been commissioning new works and performing unknown ones since 1991. It is never just a question of interpretation, but of taking new paths of development. The Cologne-based soloist ensemble has built up a close collaboration with prominent conductors and composers.
Margaret Leng Tan was born in Singapore in 1953. At 16 she won a scholarship to study at The Juilliard School and became the first woman to graduate with a Doctorate of Music from the University. Tan worked with John Cage for the last 11 years of his life. She has since been hailed as “the leading exponent of Cage’s music today” ( The New Republic) and “the most convincing interpreter of John Cage’s keyboard music” (The New York Times).
Terry Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school. Born in Colfax, California, Riley studied at Shasta College, San Francisco State University, and the San Francisco Conservatory before earning an MA in composition at the University of California, Berkeley, studying with Seymour Shifrin and Robert Erickson. He was involved in the experimental San Francisco Tape Music Center working with Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, and Ramon Sender.