Tenso Network Europe
Tenso: a dialogue between singers (term from the Occitan troubadours’ tradition)
Tenso is the European network for professional chamber choirs whose programming places the emphasis on new music. The network was founded in 2005 to promote research into, and exchange of repertoire and expertise, in order to realise a stronger position for chamber choirs and new choir music in Europe, and to provide a firmer foundation for collaboration between amateurs and young singers. Tenso organizes a festival in a European city every year. In previous years the network has organised Tenso Dagen in Paris, Riga and Berlin. The festival will be held in Amsterdam in 2009, and Oslo will host the 2010 edition, together with the Ultima Festival.
The Cultural Programme of the European Commission has granted a substantial subsidy to the Tenso Network for a one-year project, Tenso 09|10 La voix humaine (May 2009 — April 2010). The project comprises exchange of people and expertise, dissemination of existing repertoire via internet and publications, joint commissions for new chamber choir works from renowned composers, further development of the Tenso Network with the addition of new members from other parts of Europe, and, more generally, the creation of a mouthpiece on the position of chamber choirs for national and international policy makers, press and public.
Tenso currently comprises:
- chœur de chambre accentus / Parijs (FR)
- Cappella Amsterdam / Amsterdam (NL)
- Latvijas Radio Koris / Riga (LV)
- Nederlands Kamerkoor / Amsterdam (NL)
- RIAS Kammerchor / Berlijn (DE)
- Det Norske Solistkor / Oslo (NO)
- Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor / Tallinn (EE) associate member
- SWR Vokalenensemble / Stuttgart (DE) associate member
Tenso hopes to expand in the coming years to include choirs from the Balkans, Scandinavia, Ireland and elsewhere.
Tenso Days
2005 Tenso Days Paris
2006 Tenso Days Berlin
2007 Tenso Days Paris
2008 Tenso Dienas Riga
2009 Tenso Dagen Amsterdam
2010 Tenso Days Oslo