Ensemble Modern is a loudspeaker for music of our times, an essential, aesthetically polyglot amplifier for trend-setting sound concepts. Founded in 1980 and based in Frankfurt am Main, it currently consists of eighteen soloists who determine the activities of this democratically organized ensemble. The musicians from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Switzerland and the USA jointly decide on artistic projects, partnerships with other artists, and all financial matters. The ensemble’s aesthetic spectrum comprises musical theatre works, dance and multimedia projects, chamber music, ensemble and orchestral concerts. Tours and guest appearances regularly take Ensemble Modern to the most renowned festivals and the world’s main concert halls.

Every year, Ensemble Modern rehearses and performs approximately 70 new compositions, including about 20 world premieres, some of which it commissions itself. The ensemble strives to achieve the highest possible degree of authenticity and precision in implementing a composer’s ideas by working closely with the renowned composers themselves. These include: John Adams, Mark Andre, George Benjamin, Unsuk Chin, Peter Eötvös, Brian Ferneyhough, Heiner Goebbels, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Cathy Milliken, Brigitta Muntendorf, Olga Neuwirth, Enno Poppe, Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, Rebecca Saunders, Iris ter Schiphorst, Simon Steen-Andersen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Frank Zappa, Hans Zender, and Vito Žuraj, as well as outstanding personalities representing other artistic genres.

Since 2000 Ensemble Modern has run its own media label, Ensemble Modern Media. Further audio media, of which Ensemble Modernhas produced approximately 150 so far, have been released by other established record labels. In 2003 Ensemble Modern founded the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA), bundling its existing and further educational projects under one roof. Its goal is to convey the numerous artistic movements of our times as well as an open, creative manner of dealing with artistic processes. In 2024, Ensemble Modern was awarded with the Silver Lion of the Biennale Musica di Venezia.

Ensemble Modern is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the City of Frankfurt, and, via the German Ensemble Academy, by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts. hr2-kultur is Ensemble Modern’s cultural affairs partner.