Ensemble Density
contemporary art music • improvised
I think of musical space as open rather than bounded, which is why I speak about projection in the sense that I want to simply project a sound, a musical thought, to initiate it, and then let it take its own course.
Edgard Varèse
NEXT PERFORMANCE
THE SALON REIMAGINED
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Blurred Edges Festival
Thursday 26th June 2025 8pm
Alte Druckerei, Ottensen
tickets
Charles MacInnes – Trombone
Anna Bertram – Piano
Joseph Cannella – Bassoon
Jonas Danielowski – Electronics
Alexina Hawkins – Viola
Percy Pursglove – Trumpet
In a second-hand shop during a recent trip home to Australia, Ensemble Density's musical director found a piece of Hamburg-themed salon music for piano written by a Siegfried Blumann (1887–1965). Published in 1902, there appears to be no further information about this work's existence, perhaps due in part to Blumann living and remaining in exile in France from the late-1930s.
The unaccounted for work may not be a masterpiece, yet it recalls a time before audio recordings when music was written to be evocative and accessible for listener and player alike. Once again in its home town, Blumann's sheet music becomes the catalyst for an evening of shapeshifting improvised music – the salon reimagined for all!
With the help of real-time audience input, the six-piece Ensemble Density performs a program that grows and develops from fragments of the original waltz. Cue cards, noise choir, online instructions via app, as well as instruments and objects hidden around the performance space create a sound world where vintage and contemporary coexist and the roles of listener and creator merge.
The unaccounted for work may not be a masterpiece, yet it recalls a time before audio recordings when music was written to be evocative and accessible for listener and player alike. Once again in its home town, Blumann's sheet music becomes the catalyst for an evening of shapeshifting improvised music – the salon reimagined for all!
With the help of real-time audience input, the six-piece Ensemble Density performs a program that grows and develops from fragments of the original waltz. Cue cards, noise choir, online instructions via app, as well as instruments and objects hidden around the performance space create a sound world where vintage and contemporary coexist and the roles of listener and creator merge.
In a second-hand shop during a recent trip home to Australia, Ensemble Density's musical director found a piece of Hamburg-themed salon music for piano written by a Siegfried Blumann (1887–1965). Once again in its home town, Blumann's sheet music becomes the catalyst for an evening of shapeshifting improvised music – the salon reimagined for all!
With the help of real-time audience input, the six-piece Ensemble Density performs a program that grows and develops from fragments of the original waltz. Cue cards, noise choir, online instructions via app, as well as instruments and objects hidden around the performance space create a sound world where vintage and contemporary coexist and the roles of listener and creator merge.
With the help of real-time audience input, the six-piece Ensemble Density performs a program that grows and develops from fragments of the original waltz. Cue cards, noise choir, online instructions via app, as well as instruments and objects hidden around the performance space create a sound world where vintage and contemporary coexist and the roles of listener and creator merge.
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Das Konzert ist Teil von blurred edges – Festival für aktuelle Musik in Hamburg, 30. Mai - 29. Juni. 2025 www.blurrededges.de, und wird von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg und der Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung gefördert.
PAST PERFORMANCES
INVISIBLE INK – Blurred Edges, Hamburg
STRUCTURES – Melbourne '66 | Melbourne Recital Centre
SESSIONS – New York '57 | Melbourne Recital Centre
SCRAP MUSEUM | Melbourne Fringe Festival, Bakehouse Studios
Postcard designs: Chrissy Chan
Tristram Williams (trumpet), Charles MacInnes (musical director), Jeremy Alsop (bass guitar), Steve Falk (marimba), Peter Neville (percussion), Nikki Edgar (cello), Helen Bower (violin), Michael Kieran Harvey (piano), Tony Hicks (flute & saxophone),
Ensemble Density
Founded by Melbourne composer and trombonist Charles MacInnes, Ensemble Density is a collective of leading instrumentalists specialising in the performance of improvised contemporary art music. Compositional responsibility is distributed evenly amongst each of the musical identities in the group, and each performance is presented as a collaborative process involving musician, listener, context, acoustic and medium – each with a distinctive creative voice.
Photo: Chrissy Chan