ICCS curtain_call

The International Composer & Conductor Seminars (ICCS) offer a hands-on mentoring programme for composers and conductors presented by Ensemble Modern (EM) and the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA), supported by the Aventis Foundation. The ICCS comprise the modules ICCS young_professionals, ICCS young_talents and ICCS curtain_call. These three complementary modules address the particular needs of young composers and conductors at the beginning of their professional careers. In addition to the opportunity of gaining experience with Ensemble Modern as a highly qualified ensemble, the explicit goal is to create performance and networking opportunities.

ICCS curtain_call opens the legendary concert series „Happy New Ears” to rising young artists, creating an attractive presentation platform immediately alongside pre-eminent composers. The seminar is designed for members of internationally outstanding composition classes at European music academies.

This programme deliberately seeks out collaboration with renowned European composition classes resp. music academies. Thus, one concert is directly connected with the Composer Seminar which Wolfgang Rihm gives as part of the Lucerne Festival Academy. The IEMA Ensemble participates as the instrumental ensemble in this composition seminar of the Lucerne Academy. The final concerts as part of the Lucerne Festival are attended by an Ensemble Modern jury, which selects four or five of the eight compositions presented. These are rehearsed and performed by Ensemble Modern during the following season as part of the „Happy New Ears” concerts. Another concert programme is developed annually in cooperation with one music academy’s composition class or another international academy from which composers are purposefully selected and invited to participate in „ICCS curtain_call”.