Adventure, interdisciplinarity, and above all a strong and critical contact with today’s world through, among other avenues, the use of new technologies, these are some of the main objectives for the Nadar Ensemble and what we hope to share with Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), whose pseudonym was Nadar. He was not only a well-known photographer, balloonist, caricaturist, spy, art critic, and curator, but regularly organized informal “salons” to which he invited artists, thinkers, writers and scientists, thus creating a true cross-disciplinary dialogue.

Since our twenty-first century is pluriform, multimedial and transmedial, and is more and more inhabited by digital natives and a networked generation, Nadar Ensemble is not only fascinated by contemporary music, but also by film, the visual arts, performance, theatre, installation art, and all that is contained or not – by these categories. The Nadar Ensemble wishes to develop forms of musical presentation that reflect this world, in an attempt to anchor new music more strongly in today’s world. Nadar has performed at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Tzlil Meudcan in Tel Aviv, Ultima in Oslo, Musica in Strasbourg, Gaudeamus Festival, Platforma in Moscow, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Holland Festival, Gothenburg Opera, TFNM in Zurich, San Martín in Buenos Aires, Acht Brücken in Cologne, reMusik in St Petersburg, Tampere Biennale, Gogolfest in Kyiv, Cité de la Musique in Paris, MaerzMusik in Berlin, Harvard University, Warsaw Autumn, and many other venues.

Nadar was invited as guest curator to the SPOR festival in Aarhus. Although Nadar is artist in residence at De Singel in Antwerp, its hometown is Sint-Niklaas, known for its famous hot air balloon festival.