Vokalensemble NOVA, Vocal Ensemble
Vokalensemble NOVA was founded in 1992 and specialises in a capella music of the genre's heyday – the Renaissance – as well as medieval, baroque and contemporary music conceived for a group of solo voices. NOVA consists of a nucleus of six singers with great experience in working with renowned conductors and ensembles both at home and abroad. However, the number of members varies with each project so as to best express the full potential of each piece's musical resonances.
Vokalensemble NOVA is frequent guest at many renowned music festivals, including Austria's styriarte and steirischer herbst, the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals and Wien Modern as well as international festivals like the Ruhr-Triennale, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, and the festivals for contemporary music in Zurich, Strasbourg, Lucerne and Berlin. NOVA has participated in a number of recordings with Klangforum Wien, amongst them Furrer's „Narcissus" and Barraqué's „Le temps restitué", which won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1998; the group has also recorded some early music together with the Wiener Akademie and the Clemencic Consort.
Besides Renaissance madrigals and masses, works by Gesualdo such as the Holy Week responsories have been added to NOVA's steadily expanding repertoire, but they have also performed works like Monteverdi's „Vespers of the Blessed Virgin", Bach's „Passion according to St. John" (version II, 1725) and his b minor mass with a minimalist cast to high critical acclaim.
Within the last years, NOVA has gained substantial experience in the music theatre by participating in a number of noteworthy productions, such as Beat Furrer's „Begehren" (world premiere in 2003) and „Invocation" (Austrian first performance in 2004), „Die schöne Wunde" by Georg Friedrich Haas (first performance in 2003) and J. Harneit's „Idiot" (Austrian first performance in 2006) which were very well received both by the national and international press and contributed to the group's steadily growing reputation, as did their participation in the CD recordings of Olga Neuwirth's opera „Lost Highway" (2003) or Roman Haubenstock-Ramati's „Amerika" (2004). Their most recent production at the Theater an der Wien was the world premiere of Bernhard Lang's opera „I hate Mozart" in 2006.
Vokalensemble NOVA is frequent guest at many renowned music festivals, including Austria's styriarte and steirischer herbst, the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals and Wien Modern as well as international festivals like the Ruhr-Triennale, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, and the festivals for contemporary music in Zurich, Strasbourg, Lucerne and Berlin. NOVA has participated in a number of recordings with Klangforum Wien, amongst them Furrer's „Narcissus" and Barraqué's „Le temps restitué", which won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1998; the group has also recorded some early music together with the Wiener Akademie and the Clemencic Consort.
Besides Renaissance madrigals and masses, works by Gesualdo such as the Holy Week responsories have been added to NOVA's steadily expanding repertoire, but they have also performed works like Monteverdi's „Vespers of the Blessed Virgin", Bach's „Passion according to St. John" (version II, 1725) and his b minor mass with a minimalist cast to high critical acclaim.
Within the last years, NOVA has gained substantial experience in the music theatre by participating in a number of noteworthy productions, such as Beat Furrer's „Begehren" (world premiere in 2003) and „Invocation" (Austrian first performance in 2004), „Die schöne Wunde" by Georg Friedrich Haas (first performance in 2003) and J. Harneit's „Idiot" (Austrian first performance in 2006) which were very well received both by the national and international press and contributed to the group's steadily growing reputation, as did their participation in the CD recordings of Olga Neuwirth's opera „Lost Highway" (2003) or Roman Haubenstock-Ramati's „Amerika" (2004). Their most recent production at the Theater an der Wien was the world premiere of Bernhard Lang's opera „I hate Mozart" in 2006.