Biography
Ensemble Adapter functions as a contemporary music ensemble that places equal weight on educational outreach and collaborative ventures while maintaining quartet performances. Recordings by the group have appeared on multiple labels, among them Kairos and Wergo.
Percussionist Matthias Engler and harpist Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir established the ensemble—commonly shortened to Adapter—in 2004 after both completed studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Einarsdóttir sustains an independent trajectory that encompasses membership in the acoustic techno band Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble and engagements at major pop venues, while Engler works as a freelance percussionist throughout Germany and continues to direct and manage Ensemble Adapter artistically. The group keeps its bases in Berlin and Reykjavik.
In its earliest phase Ensemble Adapter joined forces with the collective Klangnetz e.V., supplementing the central harp-and-percussion pairing with additional instruments as required. Toward the end of the 2000s the ensemble developed a more autonomous profile and settled into a fixed quartet format that added flutist Kristjana Helgadóttir and clarinetist Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson to the founding principals, although up to ten players might be assembled for special projects. From 2017 to 2012 Marc Tritschler was also often added on piano.
The group entered the recording studio for the first time in 2011, partnering with composer Davið Brynjar Franzson on the Carrier Records album A Guide for the Dead Through the Underworld. Later releases comprised a 2014 Kairos album of music by Franco Donatoni and the 2018 Wergo recording Sarah Nemtsov: Amplified Imagination. Only world premieres and other very recent works appear in the ensemble’s repertory.
Ensemble Adapter has toured internationally. Its activities further emphasize collaboration and education; in the members’ own words, “Treating music as a contemporary art form, Ensemble Adapter creates, curates, produces, workshops and performs -- both onstage and online.” Workshops convey information on notation, performance practice, and scholarship to composers, performers, and other creative figures. In 2022 the ensemble announced another shift in direction, with Einarsdóttir and Engler serving as leaders unlinked to any specific instrumentation. In 2023 the group appeared on a New Focus label recording of Reiko Füting’s opera Mechthild.
Percussionist Matthias Engler and harpist Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir established the ensemble—commonly shortened to Adapter—in 2004 after both completed studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Einarsdóttir sustains an independent trajectory that encompasses membership in the acoustic techno band Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble and engagements at major pop venues, while Engler works as a freelance percussionist throughout Germany and continues to direct and manage Ensemble Adapter artistically. The group keeps its bases in Berlin and Reykjavik.
In its earliest phase Ensemble Adapter joined forces with the collective Klangnetz e.V., supplementing the central harp-and-percussion pairing with additional instruments as required. Toward the end of the 2000s the ensemble developed a more autonomous profile and settled into a fixed quartet format that added flutist Kristjana Helgadóttir and clarinetist Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson to the founding principals, although up to ten players might be assembled for special projects. From 2017 to 2012 Marc Tritschler was also often added on piano.
The group entered the recording studio for the first time in 2011, partnering with composer Davið Brynjar Franzson on the Carrier Records album A Guide for the Dead Through the Underworld. Later releases comprised a 2014 Kairos album of music by Franco Donatoni and the 2018 Wergo recording Sarah Nemtsov: Amplified Imagination. Only world premieres and other very recent works appear in the ensemble’s repertory.
Ensemble Adapter has toured internationally. Its activities further emphasize collaboration and education; in the members’ own words, “Treating music as a contemporary art form, Ensemble Adapter creates, curates, produces, workshops and performs -- both onstage and online.” Workshops convey information on notation, performance practice, and scholarship to composers, performers, and other creative figures. In 2022 the ensemble announced another shift in direction, with Einarsdóttir and Engler serving as leaders unlinked to any specific instrumentation. In 2023 the group appeared on a New Focus label recording of Reiko Füting’s opera Mechthild.
Albums
