(Photo by Kirsetn Nijhof)

Ensemble Modern will embark on its first US tour since 2011 this April, featuring a program titled “Weimar.”

The showcase, which centers on the music of Kurt Weill and the Weimar Republic era, features Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” in a chamber arrangement for 15 players, created by composer-trombonist Christian Muthspiel and HK Gruber and premiered by Ensemble Modern at the Beethovenfest Bonn in 2019. The arrangement was initiated by the Kurt Weill Foundation New York. The program also features works by Paul Hindemith, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Arnold Schoenberg — three composers who, like Weill, were forced to emigrate to the United States due to Nazi persecution.

The tour opens on April 9 at DaCamera in Houston, followed by performances on April 12 and 13 in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. The program was previously previewed on March 11 at the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Conductor and chansonnier HK Gruber, a longtime Weill specialist and close collaborator of Ensemble Modern, will lead the performances alongside mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta and the a cappella ensemble amarcord.

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