The Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain or NEC was created in 1994 in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. It is currently composed of 20 permanent professional musicians from all over Switzerland, all curious, idealistic, and enthusiastic and showered with all manner of accolades and awards. It wishes to allow the multiple facets of 20th and 21st century music to be heard, encourage the blossoming of new talents by regularly ordering new creations and build bridges between different methods of expression.
The NEC has played here in Switzerland not only in the canton of Neuchâtel during its regular season but also in all major towns in the French and German-speaking cantons. It has made a name for itself on the international stage after playing in several festivals, in particular three times in France and China. It hosted the Festival des Jardins Musicaux, the Archipel festival, the Schubertiade d’Espace 2 and the Festival des Amplitudes. The NEC is frequently recorded and broadcasted on the Swiss-French radio Radio Suisse Romande, Espace 2, the Swiss-German radio DRS2, France Musique and German cultural channels.
Its principal conductor, Pierre-Alain Monot, regularly shares his rostrum with guests, such as Pierre Bartholomée, Jürg Wyttenbach and Heinrich Schiff among others. NEC concerts have also featured performances by top-ranking visiting soloists: Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Philippe Huttenlocher, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, Kornelia Bruggmann, Brigitte Hool, Jeannine Hirzel, Daniel Gloger, Patrick Demenga, Otto Katzameier … to name but a few.
The NEC has recorded a CD on the Claves label, Wien 1900, with a post-Romantic program dedicated to Leider by Schönberg, Berg, Zemlinski and Mahler with Maria Riccarda Wesseling. Three opuses have already been released on the Musiques Suisses-Grammont label, with the works of Mela Meierhans, Wen De-Quing, Georges Aperghis, Eric Gaudibert, Rudolf Kelterborn and John Menoud. A CD has just been released on the Neos label dedicated to the recent works of Rudolf Kelterborn, of which several are dedicated to the ensemble.
