The Nieuw Ensemble was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, string and percussion. Ed Spanjaard has been the principal conductor since 1982. The lack of literature for this group makes it as dependent upon composers, as composers have always been upon musicians.

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  • The Nieuw Ensemble was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, string and percussion. Ed Spanjaard has been the principal conductor since 1982. The lack of literature for this group makes it as dependent upon composers, as composers have always been upon musicians. The Nieuw Ensemble has thus set out to build its own repertoire, encouraged by continuous contact with composers from different cultures, countries and generations, and long-term workshops for young composers. Almost five hundred pieces have been written for the ensemble. Highly successful programmes have been those dedicated to the work of a single composer, such as Berio, Boulez, Carter, Donatoni, Ferneyhough, Kagel, De Leeuw, Kurtág, Loevendie and Nono. The ensemble has been widely praised for its innovative programming. It initiated festivals such as Complexity? (1990), Rules & Games (1995), Improvisations (1996), the multi-cultural Festival of Plucked Instruments (1998) and The Refined Ear on microtonality (2003). In 1998 the Nieuw Ensemble and its artistic director Joël Bons were awarded the Prince Bernhard Fund Music Prize for their ‘markedly lively and adventurous programming which can be described as groundbreaking, both in the literal and figurative senses of the word’. Since 1991, programmes featuring new works written especially for the ensemble by Chinese composers such as Tan Dun, Qu Xiaosong, Xu Shuya, Chen Qigang and Guo Wenjing have attracted wide attention. In 1997, the group toured China with concerts in Shanghai and Beijing. The Nieuw Ensemble now enjoys a firm international standing. It has performed in festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Settembre Musica, Ars Musica in Brussels, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Musica Strasbourg, Holland Festival, Warsaw Autumn, Huddersfield Festival, Agora, Stockholm New Music, the Festival d’Automne à Paris, Lincoln Center Festival and Sadlers Wells in London. The Nieuw Ensemble has released compact discs of Donatoni, Carter, Ferneyhough, Gerhard, Loevendie, Poulenc, Guo Wenjing and Chinese composers, and documentary films about Boulez’ Eclat and five Chinese composers. The Nieuw Ensemble also participates in the Atlas Ensemble, a unique chamber orchestra uniting thirty brilliant musicians from the East, the Near East and Europe. Nieuw Ensemble Atlas Ensemble
  • Het Nieuw Ensemble (NE) is een Nederlands ensemble gespecialiseerd in hedendaagse klassieke muziek, met een bijzondere plaats voor niet-westerse klassieke muziek. Chef-dirigent is Ed Spanjaard. Artistiek leider van het ensemble is Joël Bons.
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  • May 2009
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  • The Nieuw Ensemble was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, string and percussion. Ed Spanjaard has been the principal conductor since 1982. The lack of literature for this group makes it as dependent upon composers, as composers have always been upon musicians.
  • Het Nieuw Ensemble (NE) is een Nederlands ensemble gespecialiseerd in hedendaagse klassieke muziek, met een bijzondere plaats voor niet-westerse klassieke muziek. Chef-dirigent is Ed Spanjaard. Artistiek leider van het ensemble is Joël Bons.
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  • Nieuw Ensemble
  • Nieuw Ensemble
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