European Bridges Ensemble
Internet-based ensemble bridging European cultures through network music.
The European Bridges Ensemble (EBE) is a group established for Internet and network music performance, founded to bridge cultures and regions across Europe. Its current members include five performers, a conductor and software designer, and a video artist, all from various European cities. The ensemble's first concert in 2005 demonstrated the potential of Internet performance to overcome national borders.
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Europe
- Also known as
- EBE
- Genre
- electronic music
- Occupation
- Electronic Ensemble
- Years active
- 2005 – present
- Current members
- Stewart Collinson
- Georg Hajdu
- Johannes Kretz
- Kai Niggemann
- Ivana Ognjanović
- Ádám Siska
- Andrea Szigetvári
- Past members
- Marlon Schumacher
Facts from the source article.
Network Music and Quintet.net
The European Bridges Ensemble uses network music, a term for musical activities employing computer network technologies in performance. Their implementation relies on Quintet.net, software developed by co-founder Georg Hajdu in Max/MSP/Jitter. Quintet.net connects a conductor and up to five performers via a central server; the conductor sends instructions, often score parts, while clients send control data back. An unlimited number of listeners can connect in listener mode, receiving data without sending control data. Because the network transmits only control data via Open Sound Control, and music is generated locally, standard household bandwidths suffice, allowing performers to play from anywhere. This wide-area network capability distinguished the ensemble at its founding. After video artist Stewart Collinson joined, Quintet.net was expanded with a Viewer tool for video mixing.
Repertoire
The ensemble primarily performs pieces written by its members, occasionally including works by outside composers. The first piece, Bridges (2005), has five movements composed by Kai Niggemann, Marlon Schumacher, Johannes Kretz, Andrea Szigetvári, and Ivana Ognjanović, each reflecting a city where the composer lives. Quintessence (2007) also has five movements, each about one of the five elements, composed by the same musicians. Ivresse '84 (2007), by Georg Hajdu, replaces one laptop player with a violinist and reflects on a riot during the premiere of John Cage's Freeman Etudes in 1984. Keep Calm and Carry On (2007), with music by Kai Niggemann, includes a spoken dialogue in chat slang. Brokenheart (2007), by Anne La Berge, was written for the laptop ensemble to play with an acoustic ensemble of flute, piano, and percussion.
Concerts
The founding event was the Lange Musik Nacht on 17 June 2005, with conductor Georg Hajdu and performers in Stuttgart, Münster, Vienna, and Budapest, playing Bridges. A year later, the ensemble performed Bridges again at the Making New Waves 2006 festival in Budapest, this time on a local area network. After a pause, the group reappeared in early Autumn 2007 at the Music in the Global Village Conference in Budapest, part of Projekt-Bipolar, playing with Anne La Berge and the LOOS Ensemble. Two more concerts followed in Berlin in October 2007. In 2008, the ensemble played five concerts at three festivals: ICMC 2008 in Belfast, Klangwerktage 2008 in Hamburg (including a wide-area network concert with Johannes Kretz in Krems), and Making New Waves 2008 in Budapest. In 2009, concerts included Enter4 in Prague, Klangwerktage 2009 in Hamburg, Making New Waves 2009, and a wide-area network concert at SIGGRAPH Asia with performers in Yokohama, Lincoln, Budapest, and Belgrade.
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