For the past four decades, the Ensemble intercontemporain has been at the forefront of musical innovation and exploration, premiering and performing the works of today’s most exciting composers. Founded by Pierre Boulez in 1976, the ensemble has been under the artistic direction of German composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher since 2013. For their appearance at the Pierre Boulez Saal, the 31 musicians pair two works by composers of the present generation with a seminal piece of its founder. Pintscher’s (b. 1971) Mar’eh for violin and orchestra, first heard in 2011 and recently revised, is followed by the first performance in Germany of Philippe Schoeller’s (b. 1957) Hermès V, which will have its world premiere at the Paris Philharmonie just a week prior to this concert, with the same musical forces. Boulez’s …explosante-fixe…, originally written in 1971 as a memorial for Igor Stravinsky, was revised and recast by the composer multiple times, including as this final version for solo flute, two "shadow" flutes, chamber orchestra, and live electronics.