Nieuw Ensemble

The Nieuw Ensemble is a Dutch instrumental group specializing in contemporary music, founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. The formation originally consisted of a quintet featuring bass clarinet, violin, mandolin, guitar, and percussion, but it later expanded to twelve musicians under the direction of Ed Spanjaard and artistic director Joël Bons. The ensemble's repertoire consists primarily of works commissioned from contemporary composers, including Gerard Brophy, Franco Donatoni, and Brian Ferneyhough. Commissions for the group's tenth anniversary included "Mélodies" by Huib Emmer and "Octoplum" by Ștefan Niculescu. The ensemble has premiered several musical pieces, such as "Vénus et Adonis" in 1980, "Luimen" by Elliott Carter in 1998, and "Cosmigimmicks" by Unsuk Chin in 2012. The group also premiered the operas "Alfred, Alfred" and "Shadowtime". The Nieuw Ensemble ceased all activities at the end of 2019.