Ambition is the ambitious ambient music project created by the American composer and 2017 Gaudeamus Award nominee Ethan Braun.
His starting point for Ambition is the fact that the words ‘ambition’ and ‘ambient’ have the same origin: the Latin word ‘ambītus’, meaning ‘encircle’. This encircling is reflected in the instrumentation (such as circular instruments like gongs and tam-tams) and the setting (an arrangement of sheets of metal suspended in a circle, with musicians wandering in between them). The audience is also allowed to move around and in between these sheets.
The metal sheets produce a meditative clanging that joins the sounds of amplified guitars and synthesizers. From time to time a human voice is heard. The piece is a cross between an installation and a traditional concert. It forms a changing, self-developing ecosystem in which the listener can immerse himself.
Ensemble Klang, founded in 2003 and based in The Hague, with its innovative programmes, its commissioning of works and the launching of its own record label, is one of the finest ensembles in the Netherlands. The Ensemble’s hallmarks are its energy and passion for contemporary music and its unique and yet multifaceted instrumentation, consisting of saxophones, trombone, keyboards, percussion, guitar and electronics.