About Me
Since 1980 the Dutch Ensemble MAE, formerly known as the Maarten Altena Ensemble, has developed itself from an improvisation collective into an ensemble that explores new musical and multidisciplinary territories. Straddling a broad spectrum of experimental traditions, the ensemble has built up a repertoire of over 150 works written for its particular instrumentation by composers such as founder Maarten Altena, Robert Ashley, Richard Ayres, Allison Cameron, Jack Body, Alvin Curran, Guus Janssen, Yannis Kyriakides, Martijn Padding, Steve Martland, Solex, Paul Termos, and has collaborated on projects with guest musicians such as Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Misha Mengelberg, Roscoe Mitchell, Butch Morris, and John Zorn.18 LP's and CD's have been published on labels such as X-OR, HatHut, Claxon, Philips, Donemus, Attacca, Nato and Unknown Public and performed in Japan, USA, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Swiss, Austria, England, Sweden, Czech Republic, Belgium, Hungary and of course extensively in its country of residence, the Netherlands. The idiosyncratic line-up of the ensemble reflects this eclecticism being made up of 9 musicians from many different backgrounds; early music, new music, pop, jazz, and improvisation and electronics; bringing their specialities together in a refreshing and original way. Under the new artistic leadership of Yannis Kyriakides and Roland Spekle, the focus has shifted to a deeper exploration of the possibilities of expanding the sound world of an acoustic ensemble through live electronics and a desire to experiment with the way music is experienced through new performance contexts and the use of digital media. Future collaborations include an exploration of the psychoacoustic musical traditions of Alvin Lucier and Nic Collins, work with electronic composers Fransisco Lopez and John Wall, exploration of video narrative forms with John Oswald and Yannis Kyriakides and always the introduction of a new generation of composers, both established and lesser-known that share the ensemble's goal of exploring new territories of musical practice.Ensemble MAE receives structural subsidies from Het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschappen and is sponsored incidentally and on a project basis by (among others): het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst; de Eduard van Beinumstichting; het Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten; het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds; het Thuis Kopiefonds; and het VSBfonds.I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
