Since its foundation in 1985, Ensemble Recherche has devoted  itself to contemporary music and is now recognised as one of  the field’s leading international ensembles. With more than  1,000 world premieres and some 60 CD recordings to its name,  the Freiburg-based ensemble of soloists has decisively shaped  contemporary music over four decades. Its nine musicians, internationally recognised specialists in the newest repertoire, are  united by close cooperation with composers and an unflagging  search for new sonic possibilities.

The ensemble regularly appears at major international festivals  and prestigious concert halls, including the Salzburg Festival,  Lucerne Festival, Venice Biennale, Donaueschinger Musiktage,  Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music, Wien  Modern, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and Concertgebouw in  Amsterdam. Its tours have taken it throughout Europe, Asia, and  North and South America. In Freiburg, Ensemble Recherche presents its own subscription series devoted to contemporary music.  Since 2012, it has been based at Ensemblehaus Freiburg, which it  shares with the Freiburger Barockorchester.

Arts education and support for young musicians and composers  at different stages of their development form an important part  of the ensemble’s work.

At the level of international professional training, the ensemble  regularly participates in the European Workshop for Contemporary Music (EWCM) in Warsaw, organised jointly by Podium  Gegenwart (a programme of the German Music Council /  Deutscher Musikrat) and Warsaw Autumn. Young musicians  from Poland and Germany work intensively on contemporary  repertoire under distinguished performers and conductors, gaining practical experience in interpretation, ensemble playing, and  artistic exchange within an international environment.

In higher education, Ensemble Recherche runs side-by-side projects with music academies and universities. Students perform  alongside ensemble members in mixed formations, gaining direct  insight into professional contemporary-music performance practice. These projects are complemented by regular composition  workshops, in which emerging composers develop new works  in close cooperation with the ensemble, from their first ideas  through rehearsal to performance.

At school level, Ensemble Recherche runs long-term educational  projects such as IM.PULS, in which pupils create their own compositions throughout the school year with support from composers and ensemble musicians. The resulting works are presented in  a public final concert, allowing participants to experience contemporary music as a shared process of creative action.

For its youngest audiences, Ensemble Recherche creates immersive concert formats that open up contemporary music through  sensory experience, imagination, and play. One such project  is A Song of Salt and Water, a musical underwater journey in  which children discover an imagined aquatic world through  sound, gesture, light, and music. Music by Kristine Tjøgersen  and Mads Emil Dreyer is combined with soundscapes by Lukas  Nowok, bringing instrumental and electronic elements together  in a coherent sonic environment. Sustainability is integral to  the project: its set and props are made chiefly from recycled,  reused, and appropriately certified materials.