Sebes Ensemble

SEBES ENSEMBLE

Violinist Romana Porumb and clarinettist Rolinka Niers met in 2005 and quickly realised that they both wanted to play the challenging modern chamber music composed for clarinet and violin. It wasn't long before they had formed an ensemble that had Bartók, Stravinsky and Khachaturian on its' music stands. The Sebes Ensemble which evolved from there has been in its' current formation since 2007 when Johanan Havinga became the permanent pianist.

The aim of this young group is to discover and share with the public both the standard works for this instrument combination as well as other contemporary and unknown works. The performances of the Sebes Ensemble have all been very well received. In the past few years the ensemble has been tutored by well respected musicians including; Peter Stam, Ervin Schiffer, Kati Sebestyén, Michel Dispa, Paul Komen, Walter Boeykens, Jan Gruithuijzen, Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer and Nata Tsvereli.

"The name Sebes Ensemble is a reference to the third movement of Bartók's work 'Contrasts'. For us Sebes stands for the union between tradition and innovation. Bartok was inspired by folk music but used it in his compostitions in a contemporary way. Sebes is a fast Hungarian dance and the word 'sebes' means 'fast' in Hungarian; an fitting name for a young, dynamic ensemble that focuses on contemporary repertoire.

Because we enjoy inviting guest performers to join us in discovering surprising new pieces, we made a conscious decision to call ourselves an ensemble and not a trio."