Relâche (musical group)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the American new music ensemble. For other uses, see Relâche.

Relâche is an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the group was formed as a composer-performer collective by Joseph Franklin[1]and Joseph Showalter in 1977 and was officially granted not-for-profit status in 1979. From 1977 until 1998 Joseph Franklin served as executive and artistic director. Under his leadership Relâche evolved into a producing-presenting organization in the service of the performing entity, The Relâche Ensemble. Among the national and international project that were created and presented by Relâche was the 1987 New Music America Festival and Music in Motion, a six-year national residency program created in collaboration with the Atlantic Center for the Arts designed to expand audiences for new American music through the creation of new musical works in a broad context of public outreach activities.

The octet has released several LPs and three CDs. Their 1997 album Pick It Up was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2006, they released their latest album entitled Press Play.

The ensemble has toured around the world and has commissioned works from 150 composers, including John Cage, Robert Ashley, Uri Caine, Fred Frith, Kyle Gann, Philip Glass, Fred Ho, Michael Nyman, Pauline Oliveros, Bobby Previte, George Russell, Somei Satoh, and Lois V Vierk. They have historically (though not exclusively) favored experimental music and the American "downtown" repertoire, often incorporating improvisation and multimedia into their performances.

Relâche also has an open submission policy, meaning that composers are encouraged to send in unsolicited scores. The group has provided a unique challenge to composers because of its atypical instrumentation of flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/saxophone, bassoon, piano/synthesizer, percussion, viola, and double bass.