Les Essences is an international chamber orchestra that has developed from members of top-class chamber music ensembles and outstanding musicians from the surrounding orchestra landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia. LES ESSENCES has set itself the goal of building on the tradition-conscious performance practice of all eras with a critical and courageous approach which is achieved through respectful textual and informed performance practice. Without a conductor, but under the artistic and musical direction of the German-Turkish violinist Önder Baloglu, communication among the musicians becomes a tool, which also enables LES ESSENCES to interact in larger ensembles like chamber music.
The core of the ensemble is a string quartet, Quart.essence, which can look back on numerous concerts since 2009. The quartet gradually expanded through concerts with various guests, and thanks to the increasing success, the desire to strive for “the big picture” deepened. The ensemble’s repertoire ranges from baroque music to commissioned works by contemporary composers.
The vision of the orchestra LES ESSENCES is to bring back, filter out and present the essence of the music. The instrumentalists work out scores meticulously and down to the last detail, let the music speak for itself and sound where it was originally intended – serenades in the open air, sacred works in churches or chamber music in salons, to name just a few examples.
In 2021, LES ESSENCES, supported by ensemble funding from the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Sparkasse Essen, presented an exciting three-year concept that reflects the most diverse stages and moods of human life. The concept pursues the goal of making the entire city of Essen, the hometown of the chamber orchestra, to a venue. On the program within this framework are known and unknown works, including very old and very recent compositions, with which different religions and cultures are touched. The German newspaper WAZ reported on the kick- off project “Through Essen with the Christmas Oratorio” with Chorwerk Ruhr as a partner: “…the ensemble has now received three-year financial support from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is already raising great artistic hopes. Chorwerk Ruhr thus has an equal, ideally suited instrumental partner at its side.”
LES ESSENCES performs regularly at Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Essen, Mercatorhalle Duisburg, Forum Leverkusen, CRR Istanbul, AASSM Izmir, Stadthalle Rheinberg, Orchesterzentrum NRW and many churches in Essen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Moers, as well as at festivals in Germany, Israel, Spain, Albania, Turkey and collaborates with valuable musical partners like Chorwerk Ruhr, Andreas Reiner and Anja Lechner from the ex-Rosamunde-Quartett, Rebekka Hartmann, Anastasia Kobekina, Maximillian Schafroth, Gareth Lubbe, Fazil Say and Reinhard Goebel.