Ourselves in the Other

Ashkan Behzadi: Carnivalesque (2014-16)

Yaz Lancaster: ourselves in the other (2024)
Uraufführung / World Premiere
Auftrag des International Contemporary Ensemble
Commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble

Elaine Mitchener: th/e s/ou/nd be/t/ween (2023)

Corie Rose Soumah: Tossed Parachutes of Lilacs and Lungs (2025)
Uraufführung / World Premiere
Auftrag der Darmstädter Ferienkurse und des Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust
Commission of the Darmstadt Summer Course and The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust

Marcos Balter: Neues Werk / New Work (2025)
Uraufführung / World Premiere
Auftrag des International Contemporary Ensemble, der Darmstädter Ferienkurse und des Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust
Commission of the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Darmstadt Summer Course and The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust

Elaine Mitchener (Stimme / Voice)
International Contemporary Ensemble
Rebekah Heller (Musikalische Leitung / Musical Direction)

Much has occurred since the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) from New York last performed at the Darmstadt Summer Course in 2010. Not only has the ensemble developed and professionalized its program impressively, it has also reinvented itself time and again. The list of members of the ensemble is equally impressive, owing to the variety of different musical horizons, origins, interests, working methods, and aesthetics. ‟Diverse perspectives promise unlimited possibilities", is how ICE formulates the core idea of the current season's program and attempts to work in a particularly collaborative, creolized, intercultural, intermedial, and interdisciplinary way.

Since the composer and researcher George Lewis was appointed Artistic Director in 2023, the soloist collective's portfolio has once again noticeably expanded to include a focus on Afro-diasporic artists. Lewis, composition lecturer at the Summer Course since 2018, is also the editor of the book ‟Composing While Black" (together with Harald Kisiedu), which was presented at the 2023 Summer Course, and has done an immense amount to highlight the diversity of Afro-diasporic music. Projects with ICE such as ‟Polyaspora‟ at Maerzmusik 2024 and ‟Always, Already There" in cooperation with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin in November of the same year have set an important course for making the work of Afro-diasporic composers more visible in Germany.

At this year's Summer Course, the ensemble will present composers whose music has not yet been heard in Darmstadt, including Corie Rose Soumah (UA), Yaz Lancaster, and Ashkan Behzadi.

Brazilian composer Marcos Balter, who teaches composition at the Summer Course, has been a close artistic partner of ICE for many years, explaining the particular importance of presenting his new work in Darmstadt.

Elaine Mitchener's graphic score for th/e s/ou/nd be/t/ween allows the members of ICE to showcase their imagination and outstanding qualities as improvisers and composer-performers.

The International Contemporary Ensemble's performances and commissioning activities during the 2024-25 concert season are made possible by the generous support of the board of directors, many individuals, as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, The Arlene and Larry Dunn Fund for Afrodiasporic Music, Fromm Music Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration.