Ensemble Modelo62
Founded in 2003 at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, Modelo62 consists of an international body of adventurous young performers,
hailing from Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, the Netherlands, the
Philippines, Spain, and the US, who bear the common objective of communicating
contemporary music at the highest level of performance. Embracing the highly
volatile nature of the new music landscape, the ensemble remains open and
flexible in its ability to interpret works of myriad aesthetic tendencies,
genres, and instrumentation/media from a fresh and unique point of view. Works
commissioned by younger, emerging composers are juxtaposed to those of an
older, more established generation, thereby stimulating a dialogue across
conventional cultural, temporal, and aesthetic boundaries.
International festival engagements over the past several years have included performances at the November Music Festival Den Bosch, Amsterdam Fringe Festival, the May Festival Den Haag , the Yo! Opera Festival, the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition, the Robert Ashley festival, and Faces and Places. Furthermore, the ensemble has received critical acclaim for its involvement in several major opera, theatre, film, and recording projects, ranging from the world première of the opera Iqbal (2006), a collaborative composition by Coen Schenck, Yuval Halpern and Zbigniew Wolny, to recording original soundtracks to the Mexican film Clasificados (music by Emmanuel Flores), and the Argentinian film El desierto negro (music by Ezequiel Menalled), to a performance and commercial recording of the chamber-orchestra version of Schönberg's Erwartung, featuring soprano Roswitha Bergmann. In July 2008, the ensemble recorded a new version of Varèse's Déserts under the auspices of composer Chou-Wen Chung, featured in a film by renowned director Frank Scheffer.
Within the Netherlands, Modelo62 has performed in such venues as De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Lantaren/Fenster (Rotterdam), Scheltema Complex (Leiden), De Toonzaal (Den Bosch), Korzo Theater, and <>TAG (Den Haag). Previous seasons have included premières of a contrabass concerto by Larry Sitsky, Sensitive Spot, a performance-installation by Australian composer Kate Moore, and numerous works of young composers.
Ezequiel Menalled, Artistic Director/conductor:
Ezequiel Menalled was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in November 1980 From 1996 to 1999 he studied at the Center for Advanced Studies in Contemporary Music in Buenos Aires and took private lessons from Santiago Santero. Since September 2002, he resides in Den Haag (Netherlands). In June 2005, Menalled obtained a Bachelor degree in `Composition from the Royal Conservatoire, Den Haag, and in June 2007, he received a Masters from the same institution, studying with Gilius van Bergeijk, Diderik Wagenaar, and Clarence Barlow. In 2007-2008, Menalled attended the one-year Course at the Institute of Sonology, Den Haag, studying algorithmic composition with Paul Berg and analogue studio techniques with Kees Tazelaar, among other lessons.
Alexander Sigman, Managing Director:
Alexander Sigman (1980) is currently in the dissertation phase of the
doctoral program in Music Composition at Stanford University, having studied
primarily with Brian Ferneyhough. He has pursued further post-graduate study
with Chaya Czernowin at the University for Music and Performing Art in Vienna,
as well as at the Institute of Sonology of the Royal Conservatory, The
Hague. Since 2007, he has been a co-editor of the Search Journal for Music and Culture. During 2008-2009, he is a fellow
of the Akademie Schloss Solitude (Germany). His music has been performed throughout Europe and the US on various festivals and programs by well-known ensembles and soloists.