The Nash Ensemble has built up a remarkable reputation as one of Britain's finest and most adventurous chamber groups, and through the dedication of its founder and artistic director Amelia Freedman and the calibre of its players has gained a similar reputation all over the world. Its repertoire is vast, and the imaginative, innovative, and unusual programmes are as finely designed as the beautiful Nash terraces in London from which the group takes its name. Not that the Nash Ensemble is classically restricted; it performs with equal sensitivity and musicality works from Haydn to the avant-garde. Indeed, it is one of the major contributors towards the recognition and promotion of many leading composers. By the end of the 2011/12 season the group will have presented over 267 new works, of which 168 have been especially commissioned, providing a legacy for generations to come.
An impressive collection of recordings illustrates the same varied and colourful combination of classical masterpieces, little-known neglected gems and important contemporary works. CDs released in 2010/11 have included all the Mozart String Quintets for Hyperion, and Brahms Piano Quartet in A and the Clarinet Trio for Onyx. A disc of chamber works by David Matthews for NMC was recently shortlisted for a Gramophone Award. Future releases include chamber works by Schumann, Turina and 19th-century Russian composers. As a consequence of the Ensemble's acclaimed Theresienstadt weekend at Wigmore Hall in June 2010, Hyperion will record a CD of works by composers who were incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp between 1941 and 1945 - Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas and Hans Krasa.
In their recent Wigmore Hall series "Echoes of Romanticism", the Nash explored the romantic period in Germany and Austria, focusing on music written in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The Ensemble traced the romantic spirit from Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, by way of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, to Schoenberg and Zemlinsky. The great Straussian soprano Dame Felicity Lott sang the last scene from Strauss's opera Capriccio, and leading singers Bernarda Fink, Wolfgang Holzmair and Alice Coote joined the group in song cycles by Mahler to mark the centenary of his death.
The 2012/13 Wigmore series, entitled "Dreamers of Dreams", focuses on the works of British composers from the first half of the 20th century. They bring together many highlights - Elgar's String Quartet and Piano Quintet, Gurney's Ludlow and Teme and Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge and Five Mystical Songs and Delius's Second Violin Sonata. An all-Britten evening presents Les Illuminations and the Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with the Lachrimae for viola and strings. Memorable works include Peter Warlock's heart-rending The Curlew, Percy Grainger's unique folksong arrangements, Bax's Oboe Quintet and Walton’s exuberant song cycle Anon in Love. Two affecting cycles with string quartet accompaniment share a programme - Finzi's By Footpath and Style and Butterworth's Love Blows as the Wind Blows. Susan Gritton sings Finzi's Dies Natalis while Sally Matthews presents Bliss's songs with ensemble to make another special occasion (Rout, Madam Noy and The Women of Yueh). The series ends with Britten and Walton film and incidental music presented by leading actors including Night Mail, The Way to the Sea, The Sword in the Stone and Walton's Henry V.
The Nash tours throughout Europe and the USA: highlights include 3 concerts in the 92nd Street Y New York's Theresienstadt project "Will to Create, Will to Live", performances in the Berlin Konzerthaus, Musée d'Orsay (Paris) and the Vienna Konzerthaus; at the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival; and residencies at the Toronto Festival in Canada and the Lofoten Festival in Norway.
The Nash has received many accolades including 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". The Nash Ensemble's artistic director Amelia Freedman has received many honours including an FRAM and the MBE, which was conferred upon her in 1989. In 1996 she was appointed Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite by the President of France for her services to French music. She has also been awarded the prestigious Leslie Boosey Award by the Performing Right Society and the Royal Philharmonic Society. In June 2006 she was awarded the CBE in the Queen's birthday honours, for her services to music. In 2010 she was awarded the Officier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, for her services to classical music. Amelia Freedman was Head of Classical Music at the South Bank Centre from 1995 to 2006. She has been the Artistic Director of the Bath Mozartfest since 1995. In 2011 she received the IAMA Award "as a sign of great respect for her work from the artist management profession."