Noted Parisian new music group Ensemble Intercontemporain traveled to the Bay Area to participate in two concerts in Hertz Hall sponsored by Cal Performances. They performed recent works by Berkeley composers, including a We met as Sparks by music faculty composer Franck Bedrossian and Cluster X by Edmund Campion/Kurt Hentschlager. While at Berkeley, they gave readings of student works, appeared in composer colloquia, and on two consecutive nights in November, participated in a concert in Hertz Hall.
Under the artistic direction of composer Matthias Pintscher, the 31-member ensemble lent its “bracing expertise” (The Guardian, London) to two programs of 20th-century gems on November 6 & 7 in a concert sponsored by Cal Performances. Included in the concert programs were the American premiere of a new work, We met as Sparks, by Music Department faculty composer Franck Bedrossian, (part of his cycle of pieces inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson). In addition, Berkeley faculty member Edmund Campion premiered a new work with live video, and the ensemble’s founding father Pierre Boulez was represented with sur Incises, his magnificent reimagining of his solo piano piece Incises, for three concurrent trios of piano, harp, and percussion. While at Berkeley, they did readings of student compositions and participated in composer colloquia.