About

RELÂCHE, for over thirty years, has maintained an international reputation as a leader in commissioning, presenting and performing the innovative and exciting music of our time. Relâche is among the oldest continuously operating, non-profit organizations and chamber ensembles dedicated to contemporary music in the United States. It has consistently offered world-class performances and presentations of music by leading American and international composers and artists. In addition, Relâche has always invested heavily in the future of new music through its commitment to the work of young and emerging composers. To date, Relâche has performed more than 600 concerts in the Greater Philadelphia area, around the country and the globe, including residency, festival and touring appearances in South America, Japan and Eastern and Western Europe. The Ensemble boasts a touring-ready repertoire of over 50 pieces and a repertory library of over 400 works. Nearly 200 of these are Relâche commissions, including works by Robert Ashley, Kitty Brazelton, John Cage, Uri Caine, Fred Frith, Kyle Gann, Philip Glass, Fred Ho, Michael Nyman, Pauline Oliveros, Bobby Previte, George Russell, Somei Satoh, and Lois V Vierk, just to name a few. Relâche has released seven CD’s to date: Relâche on Edge (1991), Outcome Inevitable (1994), Pick it up (1997 – nominated for a Grammy), Press Play (2006), From the Philip Glass Recording Archive Vol. 2 (2007), Eight Point Turn (2008), and The Planets (2010).

Relâche began as a composer-performer collective in 1977, dedicated to performing daring new work by Philadelphia composers. Relâche, Inc. and Relâche Ensemble was officially founded in 1979 by Joseph Franklin and Joseph Showalter and quickly established itself as a major force in the national and international new music community. Under Franklin, Relâche produced annual concert series, residency, touring and educational programs with Relâche Ensemble and grew to embrace presenting and producing. Relâche co-produced the international festival New Music America in 1987 and co-presented, with Annenberg Center (Philadelphia), the annual series “New Music at Annenberg” in the mid-1990s. It also produced many other innovative projects such as VirtualConcert and a four-year, national commissioning and performance project Music In Motion, which was completed in 2000.

One of the early Ensemble instrumentations included accordion, played by renowned composer and accordion virtuoso Guy Klucevsek. This sound, along with the historically woodwind-heavy (sax/clarinet, bassoon, oboe, flute) instrumentation gave the group the unique sonic flavor of an Eastern European folk wind band, which it maintains today. Its players have always been classically trained, but are also proficient in folk, jazz, rock and popular music, making Relâche one of the most stylistically flexible groups on the East Coast and noted for its wide-ranging improvisation capabilities. Relâche began as a “variable” ensemble, performing everything from solo and chamber pieces by John Cage to works like Steve Reich’s monumental Tehillim. Gradually, the Ensemble settled on a core octet (woodwind quartet plus viola, keyboards, percussion and bass). Performances of works for larger and smaller instrumentations continue in Relâche’s programming.

Relâche currently produces 8-10 concerts each season, featuring 3-6 world premiere commissions. Since 2001, Relâche has presented its first full-length dance/music commission, Mixed Company, with music by Guy Klucevsek and choreography by Meredith Rainey; a ground-breaking video, installation and performance commission, The Bell and the Glass, by Christian Marclay, co-produced with the Philadelphia Museum of Art; several live accompanied silent film programs, including Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger with score by Joby Talbot, and Buster Keaton’s The General with improvised score by the ensemble; as well as special events, such as Phil Kline’s cult Christmas classic Unsilent Night, CAGE12 – a John Cage 90th birthday tribute, and Revue Relâche – a 12-hour non-stop music marathon to mark Relâche’s 25th Anniversary.