Crash Ensemble is an Irish new music ensemble, founded in 1997 by composer Donnacha Dennehy

Donnacha Dennehy

,Donnacha Dennehy is a composer, born in Dublin in 1970. He gained his secondary education in Templeogue College, Dublin. He studied Music at Trinity College, Dublin and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign...

, conductor and pianist Andrew Synott and clarinettist Michael Seaver. It played its first concert in Dublin in 1997. It currently consists of 11 performers and the conductor Alan Pierson

Alan Pierson

Alan Pierson is an American conductor. He is the conductor of Alarm Will Sound, Crash Ensemble, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic....

, under the artistic direction of Dennehy, as well as using video, lighting and sound amplification as an integral part of the project.

The ensemble has been particularly associated with totalist (post-minimalist) composers from the US and post-new Hague school composers from Holland, as well as performing much music by Dennehy and other Irish composers and older pieces by the minimalist generation (including Steve Reich

Steve Reich

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...

, Philip Glass

Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...

, Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

, Gavin Bryars

Gavin Bryars

Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...

, Roberto Carnevale

Roberto Carnevale

Roberto Carnevale is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Biography and career :Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena...

, Kevin Volans

Kevin Volans

Kevin Volans is a composer associated with the post-minimalist movement in contemporary composition. He was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on July 6, 1949, and even though he has spent most of his life outside his native country, is the best known South African composer active today.In...

 and Terry Riley

Terry Riley

Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...

). It has given premieres or commissioned work by Peter Adriaansz, Raymond Deane, Arnold Dreyblatt

Arnold Dreyblatt

Arnold Dreyblatt is an American composer and visual artist. He studied music with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, Alvin Lucier and media art with Steina and Woody Vasulka. He has been based in Berlin, Germany since 1984...

, Stephen Gardner, Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon (composer)

Michael Gordon is an American composer and co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and ensemble. His music is associated with the genres of totalism and post-minimalism.-Early life:...

, John Godfrey

John Godfrey (composer)

John Godfrey is a composer and performer, co-founder and musical director of Icebreaker , founder member of Crash Ensemble , founder of the Quiet Music Ensemble, and lecturer in music at National University of Ireland, Cork....

, Andrew Hamilton, Jurgen Simpson, Gerhard Stabler, Jennifer Walshe, Ian Wilson, Linda Buckley and Julie Feeney

Julie Feeney

Julie Feeney, award-winning Irish composer, song-writer, singer and music producer.-Overview:Feeney is an award-winning and critically acclaimed Irish composer, singer, record producer, musician, songwriter, theatre artist and educator. She composes both instrumental and electronic music, and...

.

Since 2002 Crash has been mounting its own contemporary music festivals in Dublin, in a similar manner to the Bang on a Can

Bang on a Can

Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon...

 Festival in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, including adopting their popular 'marathon' format for their 2006 celebration of Reich.

Other than touring in Ireland, Crash have performed in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, the Netherlands, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, the UK and the US. They have recorded for New York label Cantaloupe Music

Cantaloupe Music

Cantaloupe Music is a record label founded in March 2001 created by the three founders of New York's legendary Bang on a Can Festival: Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and Bang on a Can Managing Director Kenny Savelson. Cantaloupe Music has made a massive impact in the new music...

 as well as for NMC Recordings

NMC Recordings

NMC Recordings is a British recording label which specialises in recording works by living British composers.-History:The composer Colin Matthews founded NMC in 1988, with financial assistance from the Holst Foundation. NMC is an abbreviation for "New Music Cassettes", which refers to the intended...

in London.

Members

In 2008 Crash Ensemble existed of the musicians:

• David Adams (piano, keyboards)
• Susan Doyle (flute)
• Kate Ellis (cello)
• John Godfrey (guitar, keyboards)
• Lisa Grosman (viola)
• Owen Gunnell (percussion)
• Natasha Lohan (vocals)
• Roddy O'Keefe (trombone)
• Deirdre O'Leary (clarinet)
• Malachy Robinson (double bass)
• Emily Thyne (violin)

and further of:

• Olga Barry (operations director)
• Aedín Cosgrove (lighting designer)
• Donnacha Dennehy (artistic director)
• James Eadie (sound engineer)
• Frances Mitchell (manager and CEO)
• Alan Pierson (principal conductor)