Contrechamps is an ensemble of soloists specialized in creating, developing and disseminating instrumental music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The ensemble is dedicated to highlighting the diversity of aesthetics and formats making up the contemporary and experimental scene. For over forty years Ensemble Contrechamps has worked hand in hand with a number of composers, conductors and artists: Rebecca Saunders, Pierre Boulez, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Christine Sun Kim, Michael Jarrell, Jacques Demierre, Abril Padilla, Sofia Jernberg, Vimbayi Kaziboni and Heinz Holliger, among others.
Contrechamps strives to develop fresh formats such as installation-performances, radiophonic concerts, research laboratories and virtual tours. The ensemble is a hybrid, both orchestra and collective, which enables it to adapt to a variety of artistic constraints and to the proposals of the artists it works with. Contrechamps Editions publishes significant books on contemporary music and organizes a series of conferences under the direction of Philippe Albèra.
The ensemble has made over twenty recordings, and has released CD portraits of Chiyoko Szlavnics, Pierre Boulez, Massicot and Steve Reich. Contrechamps recently released its first vinyl LP on the Geneva label cave12, and its own series of vinyl in collaboration with the Speckled-Tosche label.
