"The Nash are chamber music royalty." The Sunday Times
The Nash Ensemble, Resident Chamber Ensemble at Wigmore Hall since 2010, is acclaimed for its adventurous programming and virtuoso performances. It presents works from Haydn to the avant-garde, and is a major contributor towards the recognition and promotion of contemporary composers. By the end of the 2019/20 season the group will have premiè€red over 300 new works by 225 different composers of which 215 have been especially commissioned.
An impressive collection of recordings illustrates the same varied and colourful combination of classical masterpieces, little-known neglected gems and important contemporary works. Releases receiving critical acclaim include all the Mozart String Quintets, Russian chamber music, chamber works by Schumann and Joaquin Turina, and chamber works by Czech composers incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp between 1941 and 1945. Releases have also included a CD of Hollywood composers for Hyperion, Harrison Birtwistle's The Moth Requiem for Signum Classics and a CD of chamber works by Max Bruch for Hyperion, which was nominated for a Gramophone award. Last June the Nash recorded works by Ernst von Dohnányi and this year it has recorded chamber works by Julian Anderson for NMC and those of Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann for Hyperion.
Since 1979 it has presented an acclaimed series every season at Wigmore Hall exploring the many facets of the chamber music and vocal repertoire. In the 2021-2022 season the group will celebrate the extraordinary legacy of the renowned pianist Dame Myra Hess and her famous National Gallery lunchtime concerts in WWII. The annual Nash Inventions concert on March 22nd 2022 will focus on the 90th birthday year of the eminent composer Alexander Goehr including a new work commissioned by Wigmore Hall especially for the occasion.
Recent highlights have included concerts in Turkey, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The Ensemble broadcasts regularly for the BBC including Radio 3 and appearances at the BBC Proms.
The Nash Ensemble has won numerous accolades including The Edinburgh Festival Critics award 'for general artistic excellence' and two Royal Philharmonic Society awards in the chamber music category "for the breadth of its taste and its immaculate performance of a wide range of music."