Musicians

In 1976, Pierre Boulez founded the Ensemble intercontemporain with the support of Michel Guy who was the Minister of Culture of France at the time and the collaboration of Nicholas Snowman. The Ensemble’s soloists share a passion for 20th to 21st century music, enabling them to fulfill the major aims of the Ensemble: performance, creation and education for young musicians and the general public.

Under the artistic direction of Matthias Pintscher, the musicians work in close collaboration with composers, exploring instrumental techniques and developing projects that interweave music, dance, theatre, film, video and visual arts. New pieces are commissioned and performed on a regular basis. In collaboration with Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), the Ensemble is also active in the field of synthetic sound generation.

The Ensemble is renowned for its strong emphasis on music education: concerts for kids, creative workshops for students, training programmes for future performers, conductors, composers, etc. Since 2004, the Ensemble soloists have been tutoring young instrumentalists, conductors and composers in the field of contemporary repertoire at the Lucerne Festival Academy, a several week educational project held by the Lucerne Festival.

Resident of the Philharmonie de Paris, the Ensemble performs and records in France and other countries, taking part in major festivals worldwide. The Ensemble is financed by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France and receives additional support from the Paris City Council.