Ensemble MidtVest
When ten brilliant young musicians come together in a newly founded ensemble, an energy that as a whole is much greater than the sum of the ten individuals emerges. If you then add the support of a whole region, a solid basis for future development has been created. The Ensemble MidtVest was founded in 2002 and consists of a string quartet, a wind quintet and a pianist. With this versatile and colourful cast it is our main goal to perform and convey a wide repertoire of classical chamber music.

With its background in classical music the Ensemble MidtVest repeatedly moves onto new and experimental ground. Our projects on boundless music in line with other art genres and styles address everyone who would like to discover new areas. For this reason the ensemble received its first artistic consultant in 2007: The jazz star Carsten Dahl will develop - together with the musicians of the ensemble - new musical concepts in the borderland between the various music aesthetic genres and forms of expression.

But also when the ensemble performs in smaller settings, there is often room for very versatile music and the possibility to integrate other art genres. The Ensemble MidtVest often works together with both composers and writers, and film and dance will play a greater role in our upcoming projects. This highly varied artistic range will expand even more when the Ensemble MidtVest moves into the new House of Art in Herning in 2009; then the visual arts will also increasingly be integrated into the ensemble's program.

No matter how good the music is, the audience usually gets the most out of the performance if it is challenging and especially formed to suit the different audience groups. The Ensemble MidtVest is the country's only ensemble that employs its own music mediator: Steen Chr. Steensen is the contact person for schools, music schools, museums and other interest groups. He also develops educational projects, holds "concert introduction talks" and coaches the ensemble's musicians for when they themselves talk on stage about music, musicians and the musical life.

The Ensemble MidtVest is one of Denmark's five basis ensembles and is based in Herning. The musicians perform both in large and small cities in Western Jutland and often also in other parts of the country and in the capital Copenhagen. The local connection to our region is strengthened through a wide network of event organisers, artistic partners, local music societies and, last but not least, the Friends of the Ensemble. Every year in the beginning of July, all the fans meet at the ensemble's own chamber music festival on the manor Nørre Vosborg on the Danish West coast.

Despite its young age the Ensemble MidtVest has travelled abroad several times, last in 2006 when the ensemble performed together with actors from the Odin theatre at the Ravenna Festival in Italy. In March 2007 the ensemble toured through Sweden together with the jazz pianist Lars Jansson and his trio, and in September the ensemble had a very successful performance at the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin.

The Ensemble MidtVest is financially supported by the music committee of the Danish Art Council and by the four municipalities Herning, Holstebro, Ikast-Brande and Struer. Apart from that, the ensemble collaborates closely with several sponsors.

Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) - Composer
Vagn Holmboe (1909-96) is the most prominent Danish symphonist since Carl Nielsen. With his teaching and his many works from a composing career of over sixty years, Holmboe has a great influence on Danish music and Nordic music in general. He composed about 400 works, and has now finally achieved his definitive international breakthrough. Holmboe`s music is luminously clear and precise, striking in its lines and rhythms. Over the years Holmboe was greatly preoccupied with the folk music principle of going straight to the core of the music. He combined this with his own symphonic turn of mind, with roots as far back as Haydn. Even in his shorter pieces Holmboe was unmistakably a symphonist. The structures are clear and strong, and the music develops organically from simple material into a balanced totality. Holmboe`s central genres are the symphony and the string quartet. He composed fourteen symphonies and 21 string quartets in the finest European tradition. In addition we must single out his instrumental concertos (from 1939 until 1956 he wrote thirteen concertos for one or more soloists and chamber orchestra), and the choral works, several of which are already classics of Nordic music and are sung by both professionals and amateurs. Holmboe himself has long enjoyed classic status as one of the leading Nordic composers of this century.