Ecce Ensemble Announces 2019-20 Season

The Ecce ensemble today announced its 2019-20 season. Ecce's 11th season includes performances of chamber masterworks by today's most innovative composers including Toshio Hosokawa and Christophe Bertrand and multimedia artist Laine Rettmer. In addition, Ecce celebrates its debut recording of John Aylward's monodrama Angelus Novus (New Focus, TBR April 2020). Ecce culminates the season with three residencies: AREA Gallery in Boston, MA (February 2020), Clark University (March 2020), and its 11th annual international Etchings Festival in France (July 2020).

The 2019-20 season kicks off November 1st at Lincoln Center's Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church with chamber works by contemporary composers including the U.S. premiere of Le Chute du Rouge by Christophe Bertrand and the world premiere of Ananke by John Aylward as well as pieces by Erin Gee and Jonathan Harvey. In spring 2020, Ecce presents two composer portraits: the first at Harvard Musical Association celebrating Japan's pre-eminent living composer Toshio Hosokawa, and the second in New York City paying tribute to French composer Phillipe Leroux which includes the U.S. premiere of his l'epais. "French composers like Phillipe Leroux, who came from the spectral school, have had a strong and resonant impact internationally, especially in America," says Aylward. "A new generation of American composers is now responding to these French advancements. So, there is a lot to explore between the influences across these generations."

The season's capstone is the release of the ensemble's recording Angelus Novus featuring the eponymous work by composer John Aylward, Ecce's artistic director. Composed for small ensemble and soprano Nina Guo, Angelus Novus comprises 10 songs and functions as a monodrama. A tribute to Aylward's former teacher, the late composer Lee Hyla, the piece was inspired by Hyla's work "Lives of the Saints." "I taught with Lee at our Etchings Festival in France," Aylward says, referring to the summer compositional workshop that Ecce runs each year. "Later, I came across 'Lives of the Saints.' When I heard that, I knew it was something I wanted to do." Hyla's work creates psychological portraits of characters from religious texts. "I saw in that piece some kernel I wanted to explore, essentially creating pastiche texts, and choreographing them in a unified way," Aylward says. Described by The Boston Globe as "a composer of wide intellectual curiosity," Aylward summons "textures of efficient richness, delicate and deep all at once." His latest opera Switch (2016) was hailed as "a tour-de-force presentation (The Boston Globe)," for its "extraordinary creativity and delicacy (The Harvard Crimson)."

Founded in 2010, the Ecce ensemble is a group of today's most accomplished performers who are committed to presenting captivating and visionary performances of contemporary music. Through concerts, symposia, and other community-centered events, Ecce shares new forms of engagement in modern music with a diverse international audience. Ecce has realized personal and refined interpretations of works by composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Philippe Hurel, Lee Hyla, Helmut Lachenmann, Fabien Levy, Hanspeter Kyburz, Louis Karchin, Philippe Leroux, and many others.

Every year, the ensemble deepens its relationships with prominent composers and brings their work to new audiences. Ecce's annual residency is the international Etchings Festival in Auvillar, France. There, the ensemble shares diverse contemporary repertoire, as well as new works by emerging international composers, with European audiences.

In addition to the Etchings Festival, Ecce continues to expand its residency and workshop programming, holding events across New York, New England, nationally and internationally. Recent residencies have taken place at The Boston Athenaeum, AREA Gallery in Boston, MA, The La Pietra Forum in Florence, Italy and The University of Campinas at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ecce served as the 2015-17 Ensemble-in-Residence at Le Laboratoire in Cambridge, MA, and is currently in residence at AREA Gallery (Boston, MA) and Clark University (Worcester, MA). These opportunities continue to connect Ecce with the most diverse cross-sections of society, sharing with them the profound aesthetic experience of contemporary music, and the joy of its creation. EcceArts.com.