The Ensemble Phoenix Basel is a group of up to 25 musicians who are especially dedicated to performing contemporary music.
The initiator and conductor of the ensemble, Jürg Henneberger, who is presently also president of the IGNM Basel, has for years been regarded as a specialist for contemporary music. Each of the individual members of the ensemble has accumulated experience in this branch of musical performance during the past years.

During this time, these musicians were engaged as individual performers by institutions such as the IGNM Basel or the Theater Basel, where they performed in various formations, for example under the name "Ensemble der IGNM Basel". As such, the members of the Ensemble Phoenix Basel were involved in productions such as "The Unanswered Question" (Marthaler/Henneberger) or "Der mündliche Verrat" from Mauricio Kagel, etc. However, at this point in time an actual ensemble per se did not exist.

In time, the need of forming a specialized ensemble for contemporary music became evident, not only to meet the demands of the Basler Theater. The city of Basel, which with its large number of resident composers is regarded as an important center for contemporary music in and outside of Switzerland, is ideally suited to house an ensemble of this kind.

In addition, an independent, self-managed ensemble significantly eases the organizational burden of concert promoters such as the IGNM and the Basler Theater, and can insure the efficiency which comes from working with a permanent team, the members being tuned-in to each other.

In 1998 Jürg Henneberger and a handful of nucleus members took the initiative and founded the Ensemble Phoenix Basel, which gave its initial concert on the "Kleine Bühne" of the Basler Theater on December 12, 1998. Works from B. A. Zimmermann, Harrison Birtwistle and Christoph Delz were on the program. The concert was recorded live by Swiss Radio DRS II and received wide acclaim by the press.

The Ensemble Phoenix Basel will continue to be active, performing ensemble concerts of the IGNM Basel, as well as realizing projects requiring chamber music ensembles at the Basler Theater, and organizing its own concerts.

The purpose of the Ensemble Phoenix Basel is to perform concerts in its home town, the rest of Switzerland, and also to be present in the most important contemporary music festivals outside of the country. Its primary objective is to play an integral role in the development of contemporary music through direct co-operation with not only renowned, but also young composers of our times, in order to perform their works and make them accessible to a broader public.

 

Helena Bugallo
piano

Swiss conductor Jürg Henneberger was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1957. He studied at the Basel Music Academy with Jürg Wyttenbach, and at the Hamburg College of Music and Visual Arts with Klauspeter Seibel and Christoph von Dohnànyi.

Very soon Henneberger made a name for himself as a specialist for new music which led to engagements with leading ensembles of this category. In the end, the founding of an ensemble of his own, the “Ensemble Phoenix Basel”, was a consequence of this. Here, with a select group of musicians, own ideas can be translated into practice adequately.

Besides this main emphasis of his work, Jürg Henneberger is widely in demand as an artistic leader of major opera productions of the mainly contemporary repertory. Here, rehearsals of “Aus Deutschland” by Mauricio Kagel, and “Satyricon” by Bruno Maderna under the direction of Herbert Wernickes (invited by the Teatro “La Fenice”, Venice) for the Basel Theatre should be emphasized, as well as the productions “The Unanswered Question” (invited for the Deutsches Theatertreffen Berlin 1998) and “20th Century Blues” under the direction of Christoph Marthaler, as well as the Swiss première of the opera “Die Soldaten” by Bernd Alois Zimmermann.
In 2002 he conducted Alban Berg’s “Lulu” for the Hanover State Theater.

Jürg Henneberger is a teacher of score-playing, chamber music, and interpretation of contemporary music with the Basel College of Music since 1989, and he is president of the Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) Basel since 1998.

As a pianist he particularly performs as accompanist of song recitals and as chamber musician.

Jürg Henneberger

Der Schweizer Dirigent und Pianist Jürg Henneberger wurde 1957 in Luzern (CH) geboren. Er studierte an der Musikakademie Basel bei Jürg Wyttenbach und an der Hamburger Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst bei Klauspeter Seibel und Christoph von Dohnànyi.

Henneberger machte sich sehr bald als Spezialist für Neue Musik einen Namen, was ihm Engagements bei den führenden Ensembles dieser Sparte eintrug.
Die Gründung eines eigenen Ensembles, des „Ensemble Phoenix Basel“, das er seit 1998 leitet, war letztlich die Konsequenz daraus. Hier lassen sich mit ausgesuchten Musikern eigene Ideen adäquat umsetzen.
Neben diesem Schwerpunkt seines Schaffens ist Jürg Henneberger ein weithin sehr gefragter künstlerischer Leiter grosser Opern-produktionen des mehrheitlich zeitgenössischen Repertoires. Hervorzuheben sind hier die Einstudierungen am Theater Basel Aus Deutschland von Mauricio Kagel und Satyricon von Bruno Maderna in der Regie Herbert Wernickes (eingeladen ins Teatro „La Fenice“ Venedig), sowie die Produktionen unter der Regie von Christoph Marthaler The Unanswered Question (eingeladen zum Deutschen Theatertreffen Berlin 1998) und 20th Century Blues, sowie die Schweizer Erstaufführung der Oper Die Soldaten von Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Am Staatstheater Hannover leitete er 2002 Alban Bergs Lulu.

Jürg Henneberger ist seit 1989 Dozent für Partiturspiel, Kammermusik und Interpretation Zeitgenössischer Musik sowie Leiter des „Ensembles für Neue Musik“ an der Hochschule für Musik Basel, seit 1998 Präsident der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) Basel. Seit 1993 leitet Jürg Henneberger das „ensemble für neue musik zürich“.

Als Pianist tritt er insbesondere als Liedbegleiter und Kammermusiker auf.

Für seine gesamte künstlerische Tätigkeit erhielt er im Jahr 2000 den Kulturpreis des Kantons Baselland.Seit 2009 ist Jürg Henneberger Professor und gemeinsam mit Mike Svoboda und Marcus Weiss Künstlerischer Leiter des neu gegründeten Studiengangs „Master of Arts in Spezialisierter Musikalischer Performance Zeitgenössische Musik“ an der Hochschule für Musik Basel.