Ensemble atz sees music as a language.

A work of art may be complete in itself, yet within a performance it can create another meaning through new contexts and relationships. Through music, atz considers how thoughts and sensations can be conveyed, and how works from different eras can enter into dialogue on a single stage.

We do not choose works simply because they are familiar or well known. We begin with a theme or question and ask why this music belongs in this performance, what scenes and emotions it might create, and what new impressions may emerge when it meets another work. The selection and order of the program, as well as arrangement and reconfiguration, are all part of completing one message.

A performance is not completed by the performers alone. Music becomes a living language when the work, performers, space, and audience enter into relationship. Rather than giving the audience a single answer, atz creates a context in which they can enter music naturally, leaving room for each person to receive the work through their own senses and experience.

Looking at existing works from a new perspective and creating a place for new music to be born move in the same direction. We reinterpret familiar repertoire through new contexts, bring new voices by contemporary creators to the stage, and keep performance from becoming a place that merely repeats the music of the past.

Ensemble atz respects tradition, but does not remain within it. We respect the accumulated values of music and the distinct character of each work, while continuing to ask how the language of music can reach audiences today through contemporary sensibilities and questions. For a performance to lead to new perspectives, new works, and the next conversation even after it has passed—that is the direction ensemble atz pursues.