Ensemble Adapter
Ensemble Adapter is an experimental music group based in Berlin. Driven by its founders Matthias Engler (percussion) and Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir (harp), it focuses on collaborative work with partners of various artistic backgrounds worldwide. Treating music as a contemporary art form, Ensemble Adapter creates, curates, produces, workshops and performs - both onstage and online.
Ensemble Adapter has been internationally active since 2004. In addition to extensive concert tours and festival engagements it has produced numerous large scale projects in Berlin. For several years the ensemble ran a regular concert series in Iceland (Frum-) and Finland (Seitsemän), and it continues to run the series 'Rotation' at its homebase in Berlin-Wedding. 'Open Mic' and 'Adoptions' are original workshop formats the ensemble has developed in Berlin. External educational work has been conducted in collaboration with major institutions worldwide (Harvard University, Stanford University, Universität der Künste Berlin and others). Ensemble Adapter has appeared at major international festivals, such as Ultraschall (DE), MaerzMusik (DE), Wien Modern (OS), Darmstadt Summer Course (DE), Israel Festival (IR), Ultima (NO), Time of Music (FI), November Music (NL), Transit Festival (BE), Rainy Days (LU), Reykjavík Arts Festival (IS), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (GB), Borealis Festival (NO), Sydney Festival (AU), Disko Arts Festival (GL) and many others. Concert trips have led to Russia, Japan and the United States of America. The ensemble's interest in collaboration with like-minded artists has led to interdisciplinary projects with visual artists Douglas Gordon (UK), Icelandic Love Corporation (IS) and Egill Saebjörnsson (IS), with author Finn-Ole Heinrich (DE) and electro-punk band Ghostigital (IS). Through the years the ensemble has developed close relationships with several composers, such as Sarah Nemtsov (DE), Paul Frick (DE), Davíð Brynjar Franzson (IS/US), Simon Løffler (DK), Jessie Marino (US/DE) and Celeste Oram (NZ/US). For larger musical formats Ensemble Adapter has teamed up with other musicians from around the globe: Ensemble Pamplemousse (US), International Contemporary Ensemble (US), Ensemble Dal Niente (US), Asasello Quartett (DE), Ensemble Offspring (AU), Distractfold (UK) and Ensemblekollektiv Berlin (DE).
Ensemble Adapter was founded by Matthias Engler and Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir in 2004. From its foundation Matthias Engler has been the ensemble's artistic director and manager. Ensemble Adapter's early years were shaped by a close collaboration with the Berlin composers collective Klangnetz e.V. (2004-2007). The group first appeared in a flexible size, with varying instrumentation built around percussion and harp. In the following years (2007-2012) the group increasingly solidified into a steady quintet setting with Kristjana Helgadóttir (flute), Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson (clarinet), Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir (harp), Marc Tritschler (piano) and Matthias Engler (percussion) – paying tribute to Toru Takemitsu's ensemble Sound Space Ark and its forgotten repertoire from the 1970s and 80s in Japan. From 2012 to 2022 Helgadóttir, Vilhjálmsson, Einarsdóttir and Engler carried on as a quartet, with selected guest instrumentalists occasionally expanding the ensemble with as many as ten musicians. Since 2023 Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir and Matthias Engler have been leading the group as an artistic team, without being bound to a specific instrumentation. With changing collaborators on a project-by-project basis, the focus lies on the creation of original artistic content, both in music and across all art forms.
Further information on the website of Ensemble Adapter.
