In 1996, four young international musicians living in Berlin decided to combine their common interest in the "serious" and so-called "light" music of the 20th century into a group dedicated to performing the music of both genres: thus Blue Noise was born.
Its members have extensive stage experience in symphony orchestras (including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin), chamber orchestras (Ensemble Oriol, Carl-Philipp-Emmanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, European Community Chamber Orchestra), ensembles for New Music (Ensemble Modern, Ensemble L'art pour l'art, Fledermann, Australia Ensemble), and diverse chamber music formations. They are particularly experienced in the field of contemporary music, with more than 200 world premieres among them. Since its creation, Blue Noise has rapidly gained a reputation in Berlin for its versatile approach to the music of last (not to mention this) century; its premières range from the more conventional presentations of New Music to more theatre-orientated performances making use of multi-media. Directly after its creation Blue Noise was invited to become an "ensemble in residence" at Podewil, one of Berlin's leading venues for contemporary music and its performance. Past projects include: "High Noon with Blue Noise", a series of brunch concerts that presented New Music to a non-specialist audience in a relaxed atmosphere, a concert for George Gershwin's 100th birthday; and concerts for the 90th birthdays of Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter. In 1997, Berlin's Senate commissioned a new work from the composer Il-Ryun-Chung for Blue Noise which had its world premiere in September 1998.
Plans for the future include a project with young film-makers and composers. Blue Noise also intends to establish close ties with contemporary music centres in the USA, Australia, France, and Scandinavia.
Since 1998 the British soprano Mary Carewe has collaborated regularly with Blue Noise.This collaboration resulted in the CD on ASV label Tell Me the Truth About Love (Gershwin, Weill, Hollander, Britten etc) which was released in 2000 to enthusiastic press reviews.
|