Ensemble intercontemporain

In 1976, Pierre Boulez founded the Ensemble intercontemporain with the support of Michel Guy (who was Minister of Culture at the time) and the collaboration of Nicholas Snowman. The Ensemble’s 31 soloists share a passion for 20th-21st century music. They are employed on permanent contracts, enabling them to fulfil the major aims of the Ensemble: performance, creation and education for young musicians and the general public. Under the artistic direction of French conductor Pierre Bleuse, the musicians work in close collaboration with composers, exploring instrumental techniques and developing projects that interweave music, dance, theater, film, video and visual arts.
Resident of the Cité de la musique - Philharmonie de Paris, the Ensemble performs and records in France and abroad, taking part in major festivals worldwide.
The Ensemble is financed by the Ministry of Culture and receives additional support from the Paris City Council. In 2022, it was awarded the prestigious Polar Music Prize.

A pedagogical tool for sharing playing techniques specific to the contemporary repertoire

Ever since the Ensemble intercontemporain was founded, it has passed on its knowledge and know-how, in the same way as playing 20th and 21st century music and exploring new sound territories. As ambassadors for a particular repertoire and playing techniques, the soloists have premiered many works and collaborated with the greatest composers of their times.
The contemporary repertoire is characterised by "extended" playing techniques, that is to say techniques that go beyond the classical framework of mastering an instrument. These techniques allow the musician to explore the instrument in depth and find new sounds. These specific techniques lie at the heart of the Ensemble intercontemporain's missions, since the soloists have mastered them and constantly explore and discover new ones with the composers they work with.
Since 2022, the Ensemble has been working on developing a website that presents and explains these playing techniques, chosen and performed by its soloists. The website is based on a video database presenting these techniques as well as complementary content (links to the relevant musical repertoire, ideal notation, labels, etc.).
The Ensemble intercontemporain has entrusted composer and pedagogue Yan Maresz, assisted by Alexandre Jamar, with the design of the project, in collaboration with the Ensemble's soloists.
The recordings and videos were produced by Jérémie Schellaert and his team. The sound recordings were produced by Arthur Delzescaux and Julien Pittet.
This project is supported by .