ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE

ensemble LUX: Louise Chisson, Thomas Wally, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg and Mara Achleitner

ensemble LUX is a string quartet based in Vienna, Austria dedicated primarily to the performance and promotion of contemporary chamber music. After their formation in 2004, the group quickly established a strong presence in the Austrian contemporary music scene. ensemble LUX has been praised for its “extraordinary virtuosity” (Bregenzer Festspiele), and its “capability and sincerity” (DrehpunktKultur Salzburg). Their performances of stylistically varied compositions, a number of which were composed specifically for the ensemble, have been called “simply excellent” (Austrian Music Journal) and of their performance at the Schauspielhaus Wien, the Wiener Zeitung writes: “[They] accompanied in clockwork precision”.

 

“The evening fulfilled every expectation of a high-quality performance: many impressions, emotions and exceptional new impulses. There are still not enough concerts, in which one has the opportunity to hear contemporary music on such a high level – another reason to appreciate this concert. [...] The interpretation by ensemble LUX was a dynamic example of a thousand shades of raffinesse,” wrote Lucia Maloveskà (Opera Plus) about ensemble LUX’s concert in Prague.

 

ensemble LUX has performed all across Austria, including at the Aspekte Festival Salzburg, numerous concerts in the Wiener Musikverein and Wiener Konzerthaus, at the Bregenzer Festspielen, at Feldkirch Festival, at Wien Modern, at the Wiener Grabenfest, and at the Osterfestival Imago Dei at Klangraum Krems. They have concertized internationally at the Forum Zeitgenössische Musik in Leipzig, the Jornadas de Música Contemporánea in Sevilla, the Poznańska Wiosna Muzyczna in Poznan (Poland), the MusicOlomouc Festival in the (Czech Republic) as well as at the Théâtre Dunois in Paris, Berlin’s Forum Akazie 3 and at the Academy of Music in Cracow.

 

 

 

For two seasons, ensemble LUX was the “ensemble in residence” at the Österreichischen Gesellschaft für zeitgenössische Musik (Austrian Society for Contemporary Music). The quartet presented a cycle of four concerts at the Alte Schmiede Kunstverein Wien as “ensemble in residence”. ensemble LUX was the top recipient of “The New Austrian Sound of Music 2012/2013”, a stipend from the Austrian Foreign Ministry for travel on international concert tours. At Wien Modern 2013, ensemble LUX played the premiere and 9 performances of “Das Märchen vom alten Mann”, a musical theater production for children with music by Thomas Wally. In a total of 19 performances at the Schauspielhaus Wien, ensemble LUX performed on stage in the highly-acclaimed show “Johnny Breitwieser. Eine Verbrecher-Ballade aus Wien”. LUX made their North American debut at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York in November, 2016, followed by concerts in Montreal and Toronto.

 

In recent years, ensemble LUX performed at the Festival MusicOlomouc (CZ), in Prague, in Graz (KULTUM) as well as in numerous concerts in Vienna. In 2022, ensemble LUX performed a cycle of three concerts titled “Music. Judaism. Vienna.” in “Or Chadasch”, the synagogue of the Liberal Jewish Community in Vienna. Quartet repertoire from the interwar period (Arnold Schönberg’s String Quartet No. 3, Alexander Zemlinsky’s String Quartet No. 4) was combined with works from after WWII (György Ligeti’s Métamorphoses nocturnes) and contemporary works such as Olga Neuwirth’s Akroate Hadal und Settori. In January 2023 ensemble LUX concertized in Germany at the Stadthalle Aalen (Baden-Württemberg) “presenting itself in all three pieces as a markedly homogenous, routined and technically highly-accomplished quartet. Precise intonation in the tonal, as well as in the atonal passages, delicate dynamic differentiation, emotional escalations and clarity of sound – even in fierce passages – characterized the quartet’s performance, which earned the ovation from the audience,” (Gerhard Krehlik, Schwäbische Zeitung; www.schwäbische.de).

 

Alongside concerts at the Arnold Schönber Center (Vienna) and in the former synagogue in Kobersdorf (Austria), ensemble LUX will return in 2023 to Berlin to perform a concert at Unerhörte Musik.

ensemble LUX

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