Ensemble Recherche

Workshop HdK Bern @Freiburg
2026-02-27 - 2026-03-01

Schlag 6 im Ensemblehaus!
2026-03-03 18:00, 2026-05-04 18:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Ensemblehaus Freiburg, Schützenallee 72, Freiburg i.Br., 79102, Deutschland
The spontaneous concert format of FBO and ensemble recherche in their rehearsal home
A free event of the foundation of the Baden-Württembergische Ensemble-Akademie Freiburg

Under the title “Schlag 6 im Ensemblehaus” (“Beat 6 in the Ensemble House”), musicians from both ensembles will create an entertaining musical evening as soloists, in small or larger groups in their joint rehearsal home.
Beginning: 6 p.m. Surprise program without intermission. Pay after.

Special concert: Hear! We move
2026-03-21 19:00 | Konzerthaus Freiburg, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1, Freiburg, 79098, Deutschland
A choreographed soundscape about the environment, chaos, and the vision of harmony.
Fire, water, earth, air, a resonant cosmos, and humanity at its heart.
A holistic sensory concert experience for people between 5 and 105 years old about nature, chaos, and harmony with music and choreography: over 100 students with and without hearing impairments perform on the stage of the Freiburg Concert Hall to the sounds of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Ensemble Recherche: hEar! We move
Early and new music, as well as a commissioned work composed especially for this project, intertwine both ensembles and symbolize the vision of harmony.
Accompanied by a scientific study by the Freiburg Institute for Musician Medicine, the project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BKM), also implements new formats for people with hearing impairments and cochlear implant users to make music not only audible but also tangible.

With works by
Kathrin Denner, Katharine Balch, Carola Bauckholt, Rebecca Saunders and other baroque composers.

ENSEMBLE RECHERCHE
Anja Clift, flute
Eduardo Olloqui, oboe
Shizuyo Oka, clarinet
Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano
Christian Dierstein, percussion
Adam Woodward, violin
Sofia von Atzingen, viola
Åsa Åkerberg, violoncello
Lukas Nowok, sound design
FREIBURGER BAROCKORCHESTER
Students from and around Freiburg

In cooperation
with the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Freiburger Institut für Musikermedizin at the MH Freiburg.

Information and Tickets at reservix.de

Supported by
the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien

Tanz: Lachenmann - ABO 3
2026-03-28 20:00, 2026-03-29 20:00 | E-Werk Freiburg, Eschholzstr.77, Freiburg i.Br., 79106, Deutschland
Helmut Lachenmann’s 90th birthday on 27th November 2025 is not just an excuse for celebration, but also a reason for a special, experimental jubilee concert.
Lachenmann and his music have accompanied our ensemble for over fourty years. It has challenged us, inspired us and always pushed us to redefine our limits. His music is radical and strikes a unique balance between corporeality and analytical precision and between intuition and contemplation.
With the choreographer Emi Miyoshi and the SHIBUI KOLLEKTIV we endeavour to shine a new light on Lachenmann’s music: The presence of dancers and movers on stage illuminates the corporeal dimension o fLachenmann’s music. And Lachenmann’s music provides inspiration for the creation of a new choreography.
Lachenmann’s abstract musical language offers a plethora of possibilities for choreography, not least because the musicians’ bodies themselves are involved in providing impulses in the music. Works such as Mouvement, which explores the final twitches and movements before stiffening in death, set movement and resistance in a charged relationship. One observes similar characteristics in solo pieces such as Guero or Pression and in ensemble pieces like Trio Fluido, which have a choreographical component to them. Of course, these compositions can simply be listened to. However, at the same time, it is clear that they are also physically and choreographically structured processes.
In her own language of movement, Emi Miyoshi confronts Lachenmann‘s music. The music and dance meet as equals in this project; neither is subservient to the other. Both artists are unabashedly strong, and the two art forms speak both on their own as well as together.
This project is a continuation of the learning process which Lachenmann’s music always demands. At the same time, it is an invitation for a new learning process. We don’t yet know where this path will take us, but what we do know is that it is a path which can only be found through cooperation and collaboration – between artists, between sound and bodies, between the performers and the audience.

With works by
Helmut Lachenmann

ENSEMBLE RECHERCHE
Anja Clift, flute
Eduardo Olloqui, oboe
Shizuyo Oka, clarinet
Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano
Christian Dierstein, percussion
Adam Woodward, violin
Sofia von Atzingen, viola
Åsa Åkerberg, violoncello
Lukas Nowok, sound design
SHIBUI KOLLEKTIV
Artistic Direction | Choreography: Emi Miyoshi
Dancers: Sophia Barr, Marcella Centenero, Melissa Kieffer
Costume: Emi Miyoshi
Installation: Paula Mierzowsky
Technical Direction: Domitile Guinchard
Lighting: Steffen Melch
Project Management | Education and Outreach : Anna Kempin
Photo | Video: Marc Doradzillo
Production: Shibui Kollektiv and Ensemble Recherche

Tickets
available at reservix.de, at Badische Zeitung Ticketservice and at the box office.

Supported by
Regional Association of Independent Dance and Theater Professionals (LaFT BW) and Friends of Ensemble Recherche e. V.

In cooperation
with the SHIBUI Kollektiv and E-Werk Freiburg

Propaganda - ABO 4
2026-05-08 20:00 | Lokhalle Freiburg, Paul-Ehrlich-Straße 5, Freiburg, 79106, Deutschland
In today’s digital age, propaganda has assumed a new form – one which is increasingly convincing and effective. Artificial intelligence and synthetic media are becoming progressively successful at creating seemingly true imitations of real people, which brings with it enormous potential for manipulation. Deepfakes sow doubt, infiltrate our reality and endanger democratic society. In 2022,a fabricated video of the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy appeared on the internet, in which he called for the surrender of Ukrainian troops. It was a shocking infringement in the midst of the war.
Ensemble Recherche presents an artistic response to this phenomenon with its project propaganda. In collaboration with Prof. Nina Fischer, who leads the class for experimental film und media art at the University of the arts Berlin, two new works will be created for chamber ensemble, electronics, and video. Here, deepfakes are not simply presented as fraud, instead, they are used as a means of artistic expression and an expression of a political construction of reality. Synthesized voices and manipulated images are not used to conceal, but to reveal – as a means of analysis and criticism.
Two premieres form the core of the programme. Tamara Miller teams up with Nina Fischer and Yuheng Chen collaborates with Maya Masuda. Miller combines organic polyphony and extended techniques with posthuman and ecological considerations, often in reference to works of literature. Chen explores modulations of instrumental sounds between pitch and noise – his music compresses fragile emotions into intensive sonic images. The programme is complemented by Arnau Brichs’ Supra Calculated Will which reflects social manipulation musically, and Joanna Bailie’s Artificial Environments, which layers real sounds with fictitious comments – a game with our expectations and perception.
In this project, propaganda is not only conceived as a danger, but also an opportunity for an artistic intervention. Inspired by Oliver Marchart’s „conflictual aesthetics”, propaganda is proposed as a tool for political visualization and an invitation to consider new realities. Moreover, the collaboration with the UdK is a strong symbol for the relevance of artistic research and critical artistic praxis in times of cultural policy cutbacks.

With works by
Yuheng Chen (UA) & Maya Masuda, Tamara Miller (UA) & Nina Fischer/Maroan el Sani, Arnau Brichs and Joanna Bailie

ENSEMBLE RECHERCHE
Anja Clift, flute
Eduardo Olloqui, oboe
Shizuyo Oka, clarinet
Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano
Christian Dierstein, percussion
Adam Woodward, violin
Sofia von Atzingen, viola
Åsa Åkerberg, violoncello
Lukas Nowok, sound design

Tickets
available at reservix.de, at Badische Zeitung Ticketservice and at the box office.

Supported by
Musikfonds, Kunststiftung NRW and the Friends of Ensemble Recherche e. V.

In cooperation
with the Aktionstheater PAN.OPTIKUM

side by side @HfM Trossingen
2026-06-17
With works by
Gérard Grisey and students

side by side @MH Freiburg
2026-06-25 | Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Kammermusiksaal, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Platz 1, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, 79102, Germany

Der Zukunft zugewandt - ABO 5
2026-07-07 19:30 | Konzerthaus Freiburg, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1, Freiburg, 79098, Deutschland
In this evening, two bodies of sound of the Freiburg music scene collide – they both comprise the same instruments but could not be more different in their musical directions. Ensemble Recherche teams up with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Freiburg in this concert. What happens, when a chamber ensemble with nine members works with a symphony orchestra of around 70 people? Does an asymmetry or field of tension arise, in which special qualities of each formation influence and inspire the other?
The evening opens with Murmurs by Rebecca Saunders, which was composed in 2009 for Ensemble Recherche. It dances on the verge of inaudibility: whispers, traction and breath – a fragile web of tension and silence. The sounds are not set; instead, they are ephemeral and always in motion.
The highlight of the evening is the premiere of a new piece by Mirela Ivičević, commissioned by the Freiburg Theatre. Both ensembles enter into a conversation with this piece. Ivičević accentuates the respective strengths of each ensemble and the contrasts between them, by creating a patchwork of different movements, in which the musicians of Ensemble Recherche play as soloists or in smaller subgroups, in contrast to the fullness oft he orchestra. The composer conceives of music as an energy-charged process, as a frictional surface – and finds a musical language, one which is especially suitable for a special exchange between two ensembles.
The finale of the concert is Béla Bartók‘s Suite The Miraculous Mandarin, interpreted by the Philharmonic Orchestra Freiburg- a work, which was already considered transgressive at the time of its premiere. till today, it is a symbol for the nexus of artistic radicality and cultural openness.

With works by
Béla Bartók, Rebecca Saunders and Mirela Ivičević* (UA)
*Composition commissioned by the Freiburg Theatre, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

ENSEMBLE RECHERCHE
Anja Clift, flute
Eduardo Olloqui, oboe
Shizuyo Oka, clarinet
Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano
Christian Dierstein, percussion
Adam Woodward, violin
Sofia von Atzingen, viola
Åsa Åkerberg, violoncello
Lukas Nowok, sound design
PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA FREIBURG
André de Ridder, Musical direction

Tickets
available at Theater Freiburg.

In cooperation
with the Freiburg Theatre

Supported by
Friends of Ensemble Recherche e. V.
