Ensemble Extrakte

The Berlin-based Ensemble Extrakte was founded in 2013 by Sandeep Bhagwati and Elke Moltrecht. It brings together musical traditions from Australia, Europe, China, India, Iran, Korea, Singapore, Syria and the USA and genres such as jazz, folk music, techno, and blues along with European concert music from the Baroque to the present day. In its search for new music for a global future, Ensemble Extrakte works in various configurations on carefully curated concert projects and collective artistic explorations that transcend geographical, historical, ethnic, social and ideological classifications. Every member of the ensemble is encouraged to question everything in their own tradition: its treatment of pitch, scales, rhythm and also the audience as well as questions of what one regards as beautiful music and how one communicates with one’s fellow musicians.

Depending on its artistic requirements, Ensemble Extrakte makes use of the most varied techniques such as systems of rules for structured improvisation or an interactive on-screen score, conventional notation or verbal instructions, graphic scores or flow charts, computer-generated sounds, light signals or gestures. It consistently focuses on the questions: What have we not yet heard collectively in this form? And: Does the music that is produced offer us stimulating insights and rich sensations?

Ensemble Extrakte’s work was funded from 2014-2020 through two research projects at matralab – a research space for interdisciplinary art at Concordia University Montreal, itself funded by FRQSC Fonds de Recherche - Société et Culture of the Canadian Province of Québec.