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Ensemble Modern the ultimate precision instrument at the Concertgebouw

Sir George Benjamin conducts Ensemble Modern
© Milagro Elstak
Sir George Benjamin, Helena Rasker and Keren Motseri
© Milagro Elstak
By Eleanor Knight, 18 September 2023
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“the muted trumpet struck like a sharpened flint out of an harmonic veil”
Reviewed at Concertgebouw: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 16 September 2023
Programme
Benjamin, At First Light, for chamber orchestra
Ligeti, Chamber Concerto
Benjamin, Into the Little Hill
Performers
Ensemble Modern
Keren Motseri, Soprano
Sir George Benjamin, Conductor
Helena Rasker, Mezzo-soprano
More Concert reviews
Ensemble Modern stages a post-war Modernist revival
Kurt Gottschalk, 3rd July
In Frankfurt, a set of new works sound a little too familiar to one pair of old ears. 
***11
Ensemble Modern brings music of global migration to New York City
Kurt Gottschalk, 13th April
Ensemble Modern devote a night at Zankel Hall to musical tracings of migratory patterns with works by ex-pat composers born in Cuba, South Africa and the United States. 
****1
Sounds of nature: Francesco Filidei world premiere in Berlin
Elena Luporini, 3rd September
At the Musikfest Berlin, Sir George Benjamin and the Ensemble Modern present an all-contemporary programme reflecting on nature, including Cantico delle Creature.
*****
Sound and Vision: Enno Poppe and Arnulf Herrmann in Berlin
Elena Luporini, 30th August
On the third night of the Musikfest Berlin, Enno Poppe conducts Ensemble Modern in a double-feature concert that explores the potential of sound.
***11
Ensemble Modern at the Roundhouse
Benjamin Poore, 6th March
Bold and colourful invocations of twentieth-century classics from Ensemble Modern and composer George Benjamin.

****1
Larcher's The Hunting Gun premieres in Bregenz
Sarah Batschelet, 15th August
The restrained pacing of Larcher's opera suited the intimate setting of the Werkstattbühne.
****1
More reviews...
Read reviews of
At First Light, for chamber orchestraChamber ConcertoEnsemble ModernEnsemble Modern OrchestraGyörgy LigetiHelena RaskerInto the Little HillKeren MotseriSir George BenjaminSir George Benjamin
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Eleanor Knight
Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.