- Thallein Ensemble
The Thallein Ensemble was a
new music student group set up in the early 1990s with graduates from theBirmingham Conservatoire known as the NEW Birmingham Group, not to be confused with theBCMG . Principal founders wereAlistair Zaldua (composer / conductor),Mark Gasser (Pianist), John Webb (composer) and John Meadows (clarinet). The name 'Thallein' comes from a piece byIannis Xenakis by the same name. - an ancient Greek word generally meaning "to sprout" or "to shoot forth". Within circles in new music (in the UK and Scandinavia in particular) they made a name for themselves in performances ofVarese ,Xenakis , British complex music (Michael Finnissy , James Dillon,Mike Vaughan , Richard Barrett as well as modernist Italian composers (Luigi Nono ,Aldo Clementi andLuigi Dallapiccola .They gave over 60 world
premiers across Europe. The group varied in size from 8 - 130 players. One interesting anecdote was their open-air performance during the signing of theMaastricht Treaty in front of internationalheads of state .Mark Gasser was soloist in a highlycontroversial performance ofJohn Cage 's Concerto forPrepared Piano which ended in the performance beingbanned due to the "sheer volume" and "disruption to the traffic and security" surrounding the signing of theMaastricht Treaty .External links
* http://www.conservatoire.uce.ac.uk/profiles/lamberto-coccioli
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