# Modern/Contemporary Orchestras/Ensembles



## JRFuerst (Apr 2, 2010)

I am curious to know if there are any orchestras/ensembles in the US/ROW that meet one or more of the following criteria below. I have googled these phrases and all that comes up are articles, but not actual orchestras/ensembles. Surely there must be some that exist that meet some of these criteria:


Performs works from only the 20th Century or later
Has an emphasis on performing works by living composers
Strives to perform works by women and/or underrepresented racial/ethnic/cultural heritage groups
Has a mission or strives to expand a broader audience outside of the typical upper class white demographic 

I would find it hard to believe that there's not one group in the world that meets one or more of these.

These can be professional, semi, or community ensembles and it doesn't matter if concerts are free or not.

Thanks for the help!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

One case is the American *The Women's Philharmonic*, disbanded in 2004 and working to promote female composers; a branch of it, "*Community Women's Orchestra*", is still working 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Women's_Philharmonic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Women's_Orchestra

*The Group for Contemporary Music*, founded in the 60s, is maybe still existing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Group_for_Contemporary_Music

Elsewhere, very long ago, *Persimfans* was an experimental classical orchestra, working in the early, culturally experimental phase of the Russian Revolution 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimfans

Another obvious. moderns example advocating new music, but French, is the *Ensemble Intercontemporain* 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensemble_InterContemporain

There are many similar ensembles focusing on contemporary music; a couple of them up here in Scandinavia are
*Cikada Ensemble* https://www.newaud.org/ensembles/cikada-ensemble
*Athelas Sinfonietta *https://www.athelas.dk/


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## JRFuerst (Apr 2, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> One case is the American *The Women's Philharmonic*, disbanded in 2004 and working to promote female composers; a branch of it, "*Community Women's Orchestra*", is still working
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Women's_Philharmonic
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Women's_Orchestra
> 
> ...


Thank you for this information, I will check these out!


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