Vita

  "This is harmonious, rhythmic, metric, and tonally incredibly rich music ..." Klassik.com 
 
"... emotional depth that touches." 
 Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung
 
"Exciting areas of tension..."
Neue Presse

 

"Creating an awareness of the phenomena of life is for me a crucial function of art in today's world."

I'm not a moral apostle at all, I don't want to patronize or be patronized, I prefer to work alone and in complete seclusion in my little boathouse by the lake and I know about the beautiful "purposelessness" of art. It's about spiritual things, about messages that seem to lie outside of ourselves, about a higher form of truth. And yet: with our way of life, we humans are destroying our planet, ourselves and the entire diversity of life on earth. No one can avoid this very concrete truth, including us musicians. It is a dimension that has never been seen on this scale. And that's why our role as artists inevitably changes - whether we want it or not: We must face the questions of the time with our art. Business as usual ultimately manifests the mechanisms that have led our planet to the edge of the abyss. Music brings beauty, community and endless good into the world and allows us to glimpse the mystery of life - it also has the power to shake us up. Let's use them! This is more than a purely artistic - humanistic message. It is solidarity for all forms of life. I want to bring people together who walk this path together and have the courage to be uncomfortable. We are musicians - basically we should all also be Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch activists."

Thorsten on soundcloud            on youtube

  • Vita

    When Thorsten Encke won the Concours de Composition du Festival Pablo Casals de Prades in April 2005 with the composition of a string quartet, it was not just his personal clarity and confident craftsmanship that immediately impressed him, but especially his deep roots in music:

    “Encke has created an impressive work with his award-winning string quartet... the unity in the composition indicates great maturity.” wrote the press following the competition and attested to the composer’s “compositional density and unconditional will to express himself”.

    Born in Göttingen in 1966, Thorsten Encke initially studied cello and conducting in Hanover and Los Angeles, gained experience in all fields of classical music and played as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. In 1999 he decided on a future as a freelance musician. After winning the competition in Prades in 2005, Thorsten Encke's musical activities shifted to composing and conducting. Since then he has received numerous composition commissions and has been performed in concert halls such as the Théatre des Champs-Élysées Paris, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Berliner Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and many other internationally renowned concert halls. Artists such as Paavo Järvi, Tanja and Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Isabelle Faust, Edicson Ruiz, Christian Poltéra, the Quartetto di Cremona and the vision string quartet, Stockholm Chamber Brass, orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and many other international orchestras, conductors and soloists have premiered his works. CD recordings and recordings from Radio France Musique, Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Radio Bremen give an idea of ​​the distribution of his music.

    As a conductor, Thorsten Encke benefits from the composer's perspective and deep understanding of musical processes.

    In 2011 he founded the independent orchestra musica assoluta. With the climate-friendly festival HUMANITY (2021), the multimedia concert series VORTEX (2022) and the music and knowledge project THE OCEAN IS A NOISY PLACE (2023), the ensemble has dedicated itself to the artistic treatment of socio-political and ecological issues. But that's not all: Together with his musicians, Thorsten Encke looks for transparency and a fresh form in music, whether old or new. Dialogue with the audience is just as important to him as exploring the undiscovered potential in all of us. He and his musicians see themselves as an active and constructive part of society, want to bring people together and stimulate feelings and thinking.

    “For him, music is life, air to breathe and family language.”  – Il giornale della musica, Milano

  • Landmarks

    • 2024 premiere "Wellen" in the project "Im relativen Jetzt" - science & music > Lichthof der Leibniz Universtät Hannover, Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Institut für Erdmessung, Viktoriia Vitrenko. voice, musica assoluta
    • 2024 Debut Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with "The ocean is a noisy place" > Antje Boetius. speaker, Tanja Tetzlaff. violoncello, musica assoluta, Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2024 OPUS Klassik nomination for "The ocean is a noisy place"
    • 2024 clarinet concerto in Kiel > Ishay Lantner. clarinet, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2023 premieres of the works "Metamorphosen", "On the Island II", "Sous les Mers", "Fluxes", "Voices"
    • 2023 Debut Tonhalle Düsseldorf, big hall > Ehring geht ins Konzert, Christian Ehring. speaker, musica assoluta, Thorsten Encke. conductor

      2023 premiere "vicino-lontano" at "Spannungen. Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach", Sharon Kam, clarinet
    • 2023 OPUS Klassik for the film "Suits for Nature" by cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Thorsten Encke
    • 2022 "The ocean is a noisy place" NDR Landesfunkhaus Hannover > musica assoluta, Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2022 Debut Laeiszhalle Hamburg, big hall > Tetzlaff Quartett, musica assoluta, Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2022 premiere "On the Island" for voice, 4 percussionists & 3 participating players > Center for World Music Hildesheim, Pia Davila. Soprano, musica assoluta
    • 2021 premiere "technología" for string quartet, orchestra & electronics. Commissioned by Konzerthaus Berlin for the anniversary 200 years Konzerthaus Berlin > vision string quartet, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Enrico Pomàrico, conductor
    • 2021 premiere "It is noisy in the ocean..." for chamber orchestra > Randers, Dänemark > Randers Kammerorkester, David Riddell, conductor
    • 2021 premiere "insomnia" for violin, cello, accordion & tape
    • 2020/21 composer-in-residence at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst
    • 2020 premiere of "Black Ice" for 'cello & tape > Tanja Tetzlaff, violoncello
    • 2020 CD release Elisabeth Kufferath "two" with "Outline" and "Inner Voice" for violin/viola solo
    • 2019 premiere string trio "In Memory of an Old Song" > comissioned by the International Music Festival Goslar
    • 2019 premiere "Sho" for violin > comissioned by the International Max Rostal Competition Berlin
    • 2019 premiere clarinet concerto > comissioned by the North German Radio > Sharon Kam, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Joshua Weilerstein
    • 2018 premiere and CD release "Aprèsludes" (Coviello) > Julia Bartha. piano
    • 2017 CD release > "Thorsten Encke. A Portrait" > Avi music
    • 2017 Premiere of "Wer bin ich?" > commissioned by via nova – zeitgenössische Musik in Thüringen e.V. > ensemble diX, Kathleen Danke. soprano
    • 2017 Premiere of "Bonhoeffer Fragmente" > KlosterKlangFestival Loccum > soloists of musica assoluta, Stella Jürgensen. speaker
    • 2017 Premiere of "Foreboding II" > commissioned by the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern > german hornsound, Slagwerk Den Haag
    • 2017 Premiere of cello concerto > commissioned by the Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel > Christian Poltéra. 'cello, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Georg Fritzsch. conductor
    • 2017 Premiere of “outline” for violin solo > Elisabeth Kufferath. violin
    • 2017 Premiere of 2nd piano trio > commissioned by the Felix-Mendelssohn-Wettbewerb Berlin > Lux Trio
    • 2016 Invitation to participate in the project “Contemporary Music in School” through the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung
    • 2016 Premiere of “impulse – motion” for clarinet solo and 2 clarinets > commissioned by the project Q (‘kju:) > Bettina Aust. clarinet
    • 2016 Premiere of “Echoes” for violin, viola and orchestra > Isabelle Faust. violin, Boris Faust. viola > musica assoluta > Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2016 Premiere of “Water Melodies” for viola and orchestra > Peijun Xu. viola > musica assoluta > Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2015 Premiere of “Foreboding for four horns” > german hornsound
    • 2015 Premiere of “Cantus in Memoriam Dietrich Bonhoeffer” for orchestra and speaker > commissioned by the orchestra Sinfonia Concertante Bremen
    • 2015 Premiere of “Ströme II” for big orchestra > commissioned by the dance theatre project OpusEinhundert > the North German Radio Orchestra
    • 2015 Premiere of “vivacity” for 14 solo strings > musica assoluta > Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2014 Premiere of “Hommage” for 14 players > musica assoluta > Thorsten Encke. conductor
    • 2013 Premiere of “Wanderer" – fantasia for orchestra on motifs of Richard Wagner’s "Der Ring des Nibelungen” > commissioned by the Richard Wagner-Verband Hannover e.V. > the North German Radio Orchestra > Eivind Gullberg Jensen. conductor
    • 2013 Premiere of “Quintett für Streicher” > commissioned by the North German Radio > Fabergé Quintet
    • 2012 Composer in residence at the festival “Spannungen – Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach” > Premiere of “Préludes” for ensemble > with Christian Tetzlaff, Volker Jacobsen, Gustav Rivinius, Edicson Ruiz, Sharon Kam, Ishay Lantner, Stefan Rapp und Lauma Skride > Thorsten Encke. conductor > Recorded by Deutschlandfunk
    • 2012 Premiere of “Ströme” > commissioned by the opera Kiel > the Philharmonic Orchestra Kiel > Georg Fritzsch. conductor
    • 2011 Premiere of “Nyx” > the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen > Paavo Järvi. conductor > recorded by Deutschlandradio Kultur and Radio Bremen
    • 2010 Premiere of “Paul Klee Splitter” for actor and ensemble > Paul-Klee-Zentrum-Bern
    • 2010 Invitation to participate in the project “Contemporary Music in School” through the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung
    • 2010 Premiere of “Un beau brin de fille” > commissioned by the orchester Sinfonia Concertante Bremen
    • 2009 Premiere of “Das atheistische Krokodil” > Staatsoper Hanover
    • 2008 Premiere of “Hymnos” > commissioned for the 700th anniversary of the town church of Celle
    • 2008 Recipient of a composition grant from the Ministry for Science and Culture, Lower Saxony
    • 2008 Premiere of “Drei Intermezzi” > commissioned by the dance theatre project “KonTakt” > the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen > Alexander Shelley. conductor
    • 2007 Premiere of the “1. Streichquartetts” > Théâtre des Champs Elysées Paris
    • 2007 Participant in “Response” project of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
    • 2006 Recipient of a composition grant from the Ministry for Science and Culture, Lower Saxony
    • 2006 Participant in “Response” project of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
    • 2005 1st Prize at the 1er Concours de Composition du Festival Pablo Casals de Prades, Premiere of the “1. Streichquartett” as part of the festival > further performances in France, Germany and Poland