10 years of ›Checkpoint‹

In 2015, Ensemble Modern founded the ›Checkpoint‹ concert series. Checkpoints mark border crossings – places where different influences and sectors converge. Over the past decade, encounters with the most diverse musical worlds and artists have taken place in this innovative format: from electronic club music to Japanese and Bulgarian folk music to experimental jazz and vintage sounds. Valentín Garvie, trumpet player in Ensemble Modern from 2002 to 2017, was instrumental in developing the idea of ›Checkpoint‹. In 2018, he moved back to Buenos Aires, where he is active as a soloist, chamber musician and composer. For the anniversary concert ›10 Years of Checkpoint‹ on 7 June 2025, Valentín Garvie returns to his old home in Frankfurt and, together with Ensemble Modern, develops an evening between improvised and composed music based on modular composition models: »We will perform a selection of short pieces for flexible instrumentation, whose variability and openness allow for improvisational moments that express the personalities of the EM members.« The Ensemble Modern musicians will be joined by members of the IEMA Ensemble 2024/25, with whom Garvie will work in an improvisation workshop beforehand.