ensembleNEWSRQ (enSRQ), Sarasota’s bold and boundary-pushing chamber music ensemble, will conclude its ninth season with a landmark performance of Wolfgang Rihm’s Jagden und Formen (Hunts and Forms)—an electrifying, large-scale work that embodies both the intellectual rigor and emotional fire of contemporary music. The concert, taking place Monday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Sarasota Opera House, marks the Florida premiere of the piece and will serve as a tribute to Rihm, who passed away in July of last year.
Led by percussionist and enSRQ co-founder George Nickson, the performance features a powerhouse ensemble of 25 musicians, including returning guest pianist Conor Hanick and co-artistic director and violinist Samantha Bennett. A post-concert reception will be held in the Opera House courtyard, with light-bites and a champagne toast.
“This piece is a force of nature,” says Nickson. “It surges with energy and complexity. Jagden und Formen is one of Rihm’s most ambitious and evolving works—a shape-shifting labyrinth of sound that balances structure and spontaneity. It’s a visceral listening experience—dense, dramatic, and full of surprises.”
Composed over more than a decade, Jagden und Formen is widely regarded as a cornerstone of post-war European music. Its title—“Hunts and Forms”—captures the piece’s dual nature: the frenzied pursuit of musical ideas alongside their continuous transformation into shifting formal structures. The work unfolds in a stream of interconnected sections, balancing virtuosic, often volatile musical gestures with moments of hushed introspection. Fragmented motifs appear and vanish in an ever-moving musical ecosystem, defying expectation while holding listeners rapt.
As part of his tribute to Rihm, Nickson will conduct the performance from an enormous physical score that spans nearly three feet in width—an apt visual metaphor for the work’s scope and complexity.
“Every second of this score demands attention,” says Nickson, who first encountered Rihm’s music at Tanglewood, where he performed the composer’s massive percussion ensemble piece Tutuguri VI as a fellow. “There’s a funny story about the performance—something about the piece nearly running off the rails—but what’s always stayed with me is the music’s power and raw physicality.”
That sense of intensity also resonates with violinist Samantha Bennett, who first performed Rihm’s String Quartet No. 13 at Tanglewood as a Fromm Player. Bennett recalls, “He challenged you to give more—musically, intellectually, emotionally.”
Both Bennett and Hanick studied under Rihm at the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland, where they worked with the composer and performed his music in rehearsals and workshops. “To bring this piece to life together, in this context, is incredibly meaningful,” says Bennett. “It’s a celebration, a remembrance, and a shared experience for us and our audience.”
Hanick’s role in the performance is especially demanding—the piano part spans 93 pages and weaves through the entire ensemble with relentless energy. “We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Conor back,” Bennett adds. “His artistry and insight bring a unique depth to this monumental piece.”
Wolfgang Rihm, born in 1952 in Karlsruhe, Germany, was one of the most prolific and influential composers of his generation. Over his lifetime, he composed more than 500 works spanning opera, orchestral music, chamber works, and solo pieces. Known for his restless creativity and philosophical engagement with form, Rihm constantly reimagined his own material, building interconnected cycles that questioned and deepened the meaning of each successive work.
He was also a devoted teacher, serving as Professor of Composition at the Music Academy of Karlsruhe, and later as Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival Academy. His artistic worldview drew from a wide cultural palette: literature, architecture, painting, and philosophy were as central to his process as music itself.
In Jagden und Formen, all of these threads converge. The work, finalized in 2008 after years of expansion, begins with what has been described as a “mating dance of two violins” and evolves into a breathless tour de force—“virtuosic, intoxicating, and exuberant with ideas.” as music editor Wolfgang Schaufler noted. Its ecstatic energy, shaped with rigorous control, makes it one of Rihm’s defining masterpieces.
Founded in 2015 by Bennett and Nickson, ensembleNEWSRQ is Sarasota’s only ensemble dedicated exclusively to the work of living composers. In just under a decade, they have presented over 230 works, including 16 commissions, 14 world premieres, and more than 125 Florida premieres. Their mission is not just to perform contemporary music, but to cultivate an environment where curiosity, innovation, and new voices thrive.
That mission will continue—and grow—in the ensemble’s milestone 10th anniversary season next year. But before looking ahead, Bennett and Nickson are eager to close this chapter with something unforgettable.
“Jagden und Formen is Rihm at his most dynamic and unflinching,” says Bennett. “To share it with our community, here in Sarasota, feels like the perfect culmination of everything enSRQ stands for: bold music, boundary-pushing ideas, and a deep, human connection to sound.”
This concert is made possible in part by a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and by support from the Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Grant Program.
To purchase tickets or for more information on Jagden und Formen, please visit enSRQ online.
