Ensemble 360

Chamber Ensemble

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  Ensemble 360 has quickly gained an enviable reputation across the UK not only for the quality and integrity of the members’ playing, but also for their ability to communicate the music to a range of different audiences. Formed in 2005, eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in Sheffield with Music in the Round, establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist. The members believe in concerts being informal, friendly and relaxed occasions, and perform ‘in the round’ wherever possible. Having an audience on all four sides brings with it an intimacy and immediacy between musician and audience that other layouts cannot match.

  Critical acclaim has greeted all of the group’s CDs to date: Mozart and Spohr (ASV Gold), Beethoven (Nimbus Alliance) and their latest disc, Poulenc (Nimbus Alliance), which contains all his great works for piano and wind: “A lovely disc” (BBC Radio 3 CD Review); BBC Music Magazine wrote of the recording of Mozart’s clarinet quintet that “This is a performance that can stand as a benchmark for this much recorded work”.

  Ensemble 360 appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and at some of the largest festivals and venues in England including Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh, the Sage Gateshead, the National Centre for Early Music, Bath International Festival, Buxton Festival, Leamington Music Festival and Manchester Chamber Concert Series. With Music in the Round, the group tours nationally every year, has established its own concert series in Barnsley and Doncaster, and invites other international artists to Sheffield to perform in Music in the Round’s nine-day May Festival and Autumn and Spring series.

  Ensemble 360 has established its own brand of children’s concerts which play to sell-out audiences. Recently commissioning two scores from composer Paul Rissmann, these unique musical stories combine participation and narration. The ensemble regularly runs schools’ workshops, as well as performance and composition classes with a variety of age groups, and is the Ensemble-in-Residence at both the University of Sheffield and the University of Huddersfield.

  Outside Ensemble 360, the musicians all have careers of great success. Some are members of orchestras, including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Philharmonia, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata.  They have performed as chamber musicians and soloists across the UK at festivals including the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, IMS Prussia Cove and Plush, as well as across Europe, America and Japan in venues including the Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie and Suntory Halls. 
  
  Ensemble 360 enjoys an exciting residency at Music in the Round in Sheffield.  For more information about their MitR activities, please contact Tracy Bryant, MitR’s Project Manager, at the following link.

  Ensemble 360 is represented worldwide by Catherine Strange at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • Poulenc, Music for Piano and Wind
    Nimbus Alliance NI6121, 2010

    I love the alertness of the playing on this disc. The ready wit and often a slightly understated subtlety that separates them from the players that perhaps overindulge Poulenc's spiky humour and brash harmonies. It's a lovely disc.

    Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3

    … for the emotional frankness, the liveliness of the tempi, the blending of the voices, the cohesion of ensembles, and the fun that the performers are having and conveying to the listener – Ensemble 360 contends with the best. These are ideal performances for this wonderfully buoyant music

    Music Web International

  • Beethoven, Septet in E flat Op.20 and Serenade in D Op.25
    Nimbus Alliance NI6112, 2010

    These works demand much of the players…here the admirable Ensemble 360 group give absolutely enchanting and totally convincing accounts of both of them. Every instrumentalist here is first-class…strongly recommended.

    Gramophone

    There's nothing conventional about the quality of the performances...A highly desirable CD, and I can only hope for more releases from the group in the near future.

    MusicalCriticism.com

  • Mozart recording
    ASV Gold GLD 4022, 2007

    The performance has natural flow and grace allied to many sensitive touches of colour and timing… a touching and thoroughly delightful performance.

    Gramophone

    Altogether, this is a performance that can stand as a benchmark for this much recorded work… a real pleasure.

    BBC Music Magazine

    A heaven-storming performance… big things lie ahead of them.

    The Strad

    The emotional chemistry here was manifestly unusual… pure magic.

    Sunday Telegraph

    This is one of the finest recordings (of Mozart Quintet K.452) on the market.

    allmusic.com

• Photos

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    Photographer credit: Benjamin Ealovega

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  • 
    Photographer credit: Benjamin Ealovega

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