European Bridges Ensemble

Infobox musical artist
Name = European Bridges Ensemble
Origin = flagicon|Europe

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Background = electronic_ensemble
Alias = EBE
Genre = electronic music
Occupation = Electronic Ensemble
Years_active = 2005 — "present"
Associated_acts = [http://www.quintet.net/ www.quintet.net]
URL = [http://www.e-b-e.eu/ www.e-b-e.eu]
Current_members = Stewart Collinson
Georg Hajdu
Johannes Kretz
Kai Niggemann
Ivana Ognjanović
Ádám Siska
Andrea Szigetvári
Past_members = Marlon Schumacher The European Bridges Ensemble (EBE) was established for Internet and network music performance. Its current members are the five performers Kai Niggemann (Münster, Germany), Ádám Siska (Budapest, Hungary), Johannes Kretz (Vienna, Austria), Andrea Szigetvári (Dunakeszi, Hungary), Ivana Ognjanović (Belgrade, Serbia), the conductor and software designer Georg Hajdu (Hamburg, Germany), and video artist Stewart Collinson (Lincoln, England).

Using the term bridges as a metaphor, the ensemble attempts to bridge cultures, regions, locations and individuals, each with their specific history. Particularly, Europe with its historical and ethnic diversity has repeatedly gone through massive changes separating and reuniting people often living in close vicinity. The aim is to further explore the potential of taking participating musicians and artists out of their political and social isolation by creating virtual communities of like-minded artists united by their creativity and mutual interests.

The first Bridges concert on 17^th June, 2005 (simultaneously in Stuttgart, Münster and Vienna) brought together musicians from the former West (Germany and Austria) and East (Hungary and Serbia) – all connected by the river Danube — and thus demonstrated the potential of Internet performance as a means to overcome national borders and political single-mindedness.

Network Music and Quintet.net

The term "network music" is often used to refer to musical activities that utilise computer network technologies in a performative context. Network music can be performed by laptop ensembles, for example PLOrk, The Hub, or PowerBooks_UnPluggedcite web
title = PowerBooks_UnPlugged official website
url=http://pbup.goto10.org/
accessdate = 2008-08-05 ] .The extent to which network technology is utilised in perfomance can vary. EBE's implementation of network music inolves the use of software called Quintet.netcite journal
last = Hajdu
first = Georg
authorlink = Georg Hajdu
title = Quintet.net: An Environment for Composing and Performing Music on the Internet
journal = Leonardo
volume = 38
issue = 1
pages = 23—30
publisher = The MIT Press
location = Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)
date = February 2005
url = http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon.2005.38.1.23
format = PDF
doi = 10.1162/leon.2005.38.1.23] which was developed by the ensemble's co-founder, Georg Hajdu, using Max/MSP/Jitter.

The basic concept of Quintet.net is that there's a "conductor" and several (up to five) performers (or "client"s), connected to each other using a central "server". The clients get instructions from the conductor. These instructions can be messages sent to the clients, but usually it is a score part to play. On the other hand, control data created by the clients is sent back to the network. This latter, combined with the fact that an unlimited number of clients can connect to the server in a so called "listener" mode (that is, a mode where the client only receives data but doesn't send any control data back) lets anyone to connect to the server and listen the music being played in real time.

Since the network is only used to send control data using OpenSound Controlcite conference
first = Georg
last = Hajdu
authorlink = Georg Hajdu
title = Quintet.Net: an interactive performance environment for the Internet
booktitle = Proceedings of The Open Sound Control Conference 2004
publisher = CNMAT
year = 2004
date = 30^th July, 2004
location = Berkeley, California (USA)
url = http://opensoundcontrol.org/files/quintet-dot-net.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-08-05] ,and the music itself is always created locally, the normal household bandwidths are well enough to transmit all the data needed for the platform. This means that the performers don't need to be "physically" present at the performance's place, but can play from anywhere in the Globe (this is a big difference compared to the usual concept of musical performance, and at the time when the ensemble was founded, the EBE was the only ensemble playing music in a Wide Area Network). As an example, during the first concert of the Ensemble on 17^th June, 2005 the performers were located at four different cities of Europe (Budapest, Münster, Stuttgart and Vienna), and the concert itself was broadcasted at three different concert halls (and, of course, the Internet) in Münster, Stuttgart and Vienna at the same timecite web
title = Lange Musik Nacht programme in GNM Münster
url=http://gnm-muenster.de/index.php?WS=show_reihe.php&EV=1119031200-langemusiknacht_2005-gig
accessdate = 2008-08-05 ] .

After video artist Stewart Collinson joined the EBE, the original Quintet.net concept was expanded with a new tool called "Viewer", which is an extension that makes Quintet.net able to manage video mixing as well.

Repertoire

The ensemble plays pieces mostly written by the members of the group itself, but outsider composers' music is played occasionally as well.

The first music written for EBE was Bridges, a work of five movements composed by "Kai Niggemann", "Marlon Schumacher", "Johannes Kretz", "Andrea Szigetvári" and "Ivana Ognjanović" in 2005. Each movement was composed by a different musician, and every movement reflects somehow on the city where the actual musician lives (in other words, there is a movement about "Münster", "Stuttgart", "Vienna", "Budapest" and "Belgrade"). It was first performed on the Internet with live broadcast in Stuttgart, Münster and Vienna on 17^th June, 2005.

A similar piece is Quintessence, also with five movements, each one about one of the five elements. The composers are "Kai Niggemann" (Earth), "Marlon Schumacher" (Fire), "Johannes Kretz" (Quintessence), "Andrea Szigetvári" (Air) and "Ivana Ognjanović" (Water). It was composed in 2007 and first played during the Music in the Global Village conference on 06^th September, 2007.

Ivresse '84 (composed by ensemble leader "Georg Hajdu" in 2007) is the first piece for the ensemble where only four laptop players are needed as the fifth player is replaced by a violinist. The piece reflects on the riot that happened during the premiere of the first two books of John Cage's Freeman Etudes in Ivrea, in 1984. It was first performed during the Music in the Global Village conference on 06^th September, 2007 by János Négyesy, the same violinistcite web
first = John
last = Cage
title = Freeman Etudes
url=http://www.johncage.info/workscage/freemanetudes.html
accessdate = 2008-10-11 ] who played on the original concert in Ivrea.

The first piece having also text spoken was Keep Calm and Carry On. The text is a dialogue written by "Maria Popara" and "Kai Niggemann" using the typical slang of chat. The music was composed by "Kai Niggemann in 2007", and the piece was also first performed during the Music in the Global Village conference on 06^th September, 2007.

A transcription of John Cage's Fivecite web
first = John
last = Cage
title = Five
url=http://www.johncage.info/workscage/five.html
accessdate = 2008-08-05 ] (composed in 1988) was done by the ensemble. This version was first performed on 27^th April, 2006.

"Anne La Berge", a composer and flutist composed Brokenheart for LOOS Ensemble and EBE in 2007, where the goal was to write a piece where the laptop ensemble plays together with an acoustic ensemble (including flute, piano and percussion). It was first played during the Music in the Global Village conference on 06^th September, 2007.

In 2007 the ensemble was invited to play at the closing concert of Projekt Bipolar in Berlin on 13^th October, 2007. The concert was titled "Hommage á György Ligeti", since there was a young composers' competition "In Memoriam György Ligeti"cite web
title = In Memoriam György Ligeti — Projekt Bipolar
url=http://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/main.jsp?categoryID=202877&articleCategoryID=202889&articleCategoryID2=null&languageID=2&articleID=3633
accessdate = 2008-08-04 ] among the activities of Projekt Bipolar, and the prizes were given to the winners also during this concert. For this event, EBE commissioned a piece from "Sascha Lino Lemke". Netze spinnen # Spinnennetze is a work where the five players are splitted in space. The material used by "Lemke" relates in several ways to György Ligeti's music, including the use of metronomes and other polyrithmical solutions.

Concerts (selection)

ICMC 2008 (Belfast)

The ensemble played during two concerts on subsequent nightscite web
title = ICMC 2008 concert schedule
url=http://www.icmc2008.net/programme/schedule/concert
accessdate = 2008-08-06 ] at the ICMC 2008 at the "Whitla Hall" in Belfast. The performed pieces were Quintessence (on 28^th August) and Ivresse '84 (on 29^th August).

Hommage á György Ligeti (Berlin)

The Hommage á György Ligeti concert was the closing concert of the Projekt Bipolar on 13^th October, 2007. Among other activities of the project, there was a competition for young composers.cite web
title = In Memoriam György Ligeti — Projekt Bipolar
url=http://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/main.jsp?categoryID=202877&articleCategoryID=202889&articleCategoryID2=null&languageID=2&articleID=3633
accessdate = 2008-08-04 ] The prizes were given to the winners during the Hommage á György Ligeti concert, where the EBE was invited to play the opening and the closing piece, as can be read on the section "Abschlusskonzert von Bipolar und Preisverleihung des Kompositionswettbewerbs In Memoriam György Ligeti"cite web
title = In Memoriam György Ligeti Concert — Projekt Bipolar
url=http://www.projekt-bipolar.net/index.php_option=com_bipolar&task=publikationen&Itemid=37.html#pub_4
accessdate = 2008-08-04 ] of Projekt—Bipolar. (Which means "Closing concert of Bipolar and awards of the composition competition In Memoriam György Ligeti given".)

"Programme:"
# Netze spinnen # Spinnennetze (Part 1)
# Poly "(composed by Balázs Horváth)"
# Sacred river ALPH’s meanders mazy mad & measureless "(composed by Martin Grütter)"
# Mortualium "(composed by Péter Kőszeghy)"
# Kammerkonzert "(composed by György Ligeti)"
# Netze spinnen # Spinnennetze (Part 2)

Music in the Global Village (Budapest)

The Music in the Global Village Conference Budapest (between 06^th and 08^th Septermber, 2007) was the first international conference dedicated exclusively to network music composition and performancecite web
title = Overview of network art projects
url=http://societyofalgorithm.org/networktime/#2007
accessdate = 2008-08-04 ] . The opening concert was played by the EBE (on 06^th Septermber, 2007), together with Anne La Berge and the LOOS Ensemblecite web
title = Music in the Global Village
url=http://globalvillagemusic.net/preliminary-concert-schedule/en/
accessdate = 2008-08-03 ] .

"Programme:"
# Quintessence ("Water", "Air", "Fire", "Earth", "Quintessence")
# Brokenheart Performed by Anne La Berge and the LOOS Ensemble.
# Ivresse '84 Performed by János Négyesi.
# Keep Calm and Carry On
# Bridges

Lange Musik Nacht (Internet)

This was the first public concert of EBE on 17^th June, 2005. Conductor Georg Hajdu and performers Ivana Ognjanović and Marlon Schumacher were in Stuttgart, Kai Niggemann in Münster, Johannes Kretz in Wien and Andrea Szigetvári in Budapest.

The piece played was Bridges, and it demonstrated that the idea of playing music via Wide Area Network is possible.

Releases

The ensemble released its first DVD in early 2008. The tracks include "Quintessence", "Ivresse '84", "Baschet Bicinium", "Keep Calm and Carry On" and "Bridges". The material for the DVD was recorded at the Palace of Art (Budapest) between the 03^rd and the 05^th Septermber, 2007.

References

External links

*European Brigdes Ensemble [http://www.e-b-e.eu/ Official website]
*Website of the [http://www.globalvillagemusic.net/ Music in the Global Village Conference]
*Website of [http://www.quintet.net/ Quintet.net] , a networked multimedia performance software