Recognized for its world-class performances of works by leading contemporary composers, Relâche is an international leader in commissioning, presenting and performing the innovative music of our time. Founded as a composer's collective in 1977 and officially founded as an ensemble in 1979, Relâche is among the oldest continuously operating nonprofit chamber ensembles dedicated to contemporary music in the United States. 

Relâche continues to invest in the future of new music through its commitment to the work of young and emerging composers. To date, Relâche has performed more than 550 concerts in and around its home city of Philadelphia as well as across the country and the globe, including residencies, festival and touring appearances in South America, Japan and Eastern and Western Europe.

Relâche is one of the most stylistically flexible groups on the East Coast, and is equally at home playing everything from folk to jazz, and from rock to contemporary classical.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE NAME?

Relâche - “no performance” or “the theater is dark”
 

The ensemble is named after the multimedia Dada theater piece Relâche created by Erik Satie, René Clair, Jean Börlin, and Francis Picabia. On opening night, the performance was mysteriously cancelled (en relâche?), and the audience sent home - a Dada joke! One week later Relâche premiered, the crowd rioted, and the show ran for a year.