- May 21, 2025
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When George Nickson and Samantha Bennett were planning the 2024-25 season for ensembleNew-SRQ, the contemporary classical music group they founded nine years ago, the husband-and-wife team agreed that it was time to perform “Jagden und Formen” by German composer Wolfgang Rihm.
Both Nickson and Bennett had met Rihm at the prestigious Lucerne Festival, where he was artistic director since 2016, and both were fans of “Jagden und Formen” (Hunts and Forms).
When they put the challenging piece on the calendar for May 12, Nickson and Bennett imagined a timely tribute to the prolific composer at the Sarasota Opera House.
Little did they know that the capstone of ensembleNewSRQ’s ninth season would become a memorial of sorts to Rihm, who died July 27, 2024. Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, Rihm started composing at the age of 11 and began studying music theory and composition at the Hochschule fur Musik Karlsruhe while he was still in high school.
The premiere of Rihm’s work “Morphonie” at the 1974 Donaueschingen Festival sealed his reputation as a rising star in the world of new classical music. Rihm played several instruments, including violin and cello, and was known to improvise what he dubbed “sound orgies” on the organ. During his career, he composed more than 500 works.
“We didn’t plan it that way, but it’s a huge deal to honor Wolfgang, who was a towering composer of contemporary classical music and a great influence on generations of musicians through his involvement in the Lucerne Festival,” Nickson says.
In their social media feeds, Nickson and Bennett, both alumni of the Sarasota Orchestra, describe ensembleNewSRQ as a chamber music group. But for its May 12 concert at the opera house, the contemporary classical ensemble will resemble an orchestra, with 25 musicians on stage.
All of the musicians who gather under the aegis of ensembleNew-SRQ are stars in their own right and several are members of the Sarasota Orchestra. But it is fair to say that one of the major draws of “Jagden” will be Conor Hanick on the piano.
According to his official bio at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where he is director of solo piano, Hanick “is one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old.”
During his career, Hanick has premiered more than 200 pieces and has collaborated with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho and Steve Reich. In addition to being in demand as a performer, Hanick is a sought-after teacher and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, Mannes College and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Among the familiar faces on stage for “Jagden” will be Nickson and Bennett, a violinist in the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the former principal second violin in the Sarasota Orchestra; Jennifer Takeda, violinist and assistant concertmaster of the Sarasota Orchestra; and Marcellina Suchocka, principal percussionist for the orchestra.
Some people feel a sense of trepidation when they hear the words “contemporary classical music,” while others feel excitement. The term generally refers to classical works written in the 20th and 21st century, particularly the last 50 years.
Some orchestra patrons well-versed in the canon of classical music are surprised to learn the genre has continued to evolve. Contemporary classical music encompasses not only atonal music popularized by Philip Glass, which may sound strange at first to newcomers, but also electronic and experimental music.
It can also blend several styles in the same piece. What sounds like cacophony to some classical music aficionados is an exciting roller-coaster ride for others, particularly younger fans.
Rihm’s “Jagden und Formen” is one long movement of close to an hour with an interesting backstory. It evolved out of several earlier pieces and was written from 1995-2001, when it premiered in Basel, Switzerland. A second, slightly longer version came along in 2008.
Although many of the instruments in “Jagden” get solos, the percussion section does heavy lifting and is well equipped. Among the percussion instruments played in the composition are antique, clash and other kinds of cymbals, a vibraphone, tubular bells, nipple gongs, woodblocks, marimba, tam-tams, tom-toms, a conga and snare, bass and bongo drums.
According to Nickson, who was principal percussionist for the Sarasota Orchestra before taking the same role at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, “Jagden und Formen” is one of Rihm’s most ambitious works.
It explores the tension between structure and spontaneity, he says. Rather than presenting a fixed narrative, Rihm’s work reveals “a riveting musical ecosystem where motifs are hunted, transformed and released.”
Adds Nickson, who is an adjunct faculty member at Southern Methodist University, “Jagden und Formen” is a “visceral listening experience — dense, dramatic and full of surprises that underscores why Rihm remains a towering figure in contemporary music.”
During a telephone interview from Dallas, Nickson and Bennett shared a laugh when they remembered Nickson’s performance of a Rihm composition at the 2011 Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. The work in question was Rihm’s “Tutuguri VI (Kreuze),” a chamber piece featuring six percussion soloists from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, of which Nickson was one.
According to Nickson, a disaster of sorts occurred when he had to execute a hammer blow to a Mahler box with a giant mallet that looks like a sledgehammer. “Being young and excited, I didn’t get it quite right and sticks went flying,” he recalls. “The audience didn’t really notice, but there were some chuckles among the ensemble.”
All of which is to say, Rihm’s works are filled with dramatic moments created by lots of percussion instruments, some of which are so specialized that even professional musicians don’t have them sitting around their studio. For their May 12 Sarasota Opera House performance of “Jagden und Formen,” ensembleNewSRQ will rent some percussion instruments, including an Indonesian gamelan, from a company Nickson used to own, Florida Percussion Service, in Fort Myers.
“It is one of our most ambitious undertakings yet,” Nickson says. “There are a lot of logistics to deal with, like piano tuning. The score will be four feet tall and laid out on what looks like a drafting table.”
The “Jagden und Formen” concerts marks only the second time ensembleNewSRQ has played at the historic Sarasota Opera House. The musical group normally performs at the First Congregation Church at 1031 Euclid Ave.
EnsembleNewSRQ is going to take advantage of the opera house’s lovely courtyard and what is expected to be perfect weather to hold a reception after the concert. This will give patrons the opportunity to meet and mingle with the musicians and fellow concertgoers. Nickson and Bennett will also unveil their lineup for ensembleNewSRQ’s 10th anniversary season, which they are calling a “blockbuster.”
Despite last year’s unprecedented across-the-board veto of Florida arts grants by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which eliminated $20,000 in funding for ensembleNewSRQ, Nickson and Bennett are optimistic that their state arts grant will be approved this year because of the high score they have received during the vetting process.
With the departure of their general manager Kate Mulligan, who left in September to become executive director of the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation, ensembleNewSRQ decided to divvy up her responsibilities among part-time employees.
Mulligan was only in the job for about a year. Nickson and Bennett had handled administrative chores before they hired her, so they are no strangers to running an arts group while juggling performances with other music groups.
However, they have decided to put increased emphasis on development amid shifting political winds and a gyrating stock market. They are relying on new development associate Laura Randall to keep the donations coming in.
While uncertainty about the value of portfolios can make even wealthy donors reluctant to write checks, Nickson and Bennett believe they have carved out a unique niche for themselves in Sarasota’s vibrant arts scene. “Nobody else is doing what we are,” Bennett says.
During its nine-year history, ensembleNewSRQ has attracted a following, not just from Sarasota Orchestra patrons who know Bennett and Nickson from their time there, but from younger fans of contemporary classical music. The elusive young male demographic can be found at ensembleNewSRQ concerts featuring electronic and experimental music, some of which is rarely performed in the U.S., let alone Sarasota.
To reach the next generation of music lovers, ensembleNewSRQ has been stepping up its community engagement efforts.
For their “Jagden und Formen” concert, they are working with high schools and colleges in the area to provide free tickets to students and up to five family members.
“We want to remove barriers to learning and enjoying contemporary classical music,” Bennett says.
