e - w e r k is an electric guitar ensemble based in Berlin. Its basic formation as a quartet was founded in 2012 and is focused on but not limited to contemporary composed music.
The ensemble is comprised of various musical personalities from different backgrounds, all of whom have been performing internationally during the last decades as soloists and in various orchestras, ensembles and bands. The core members of the quartet are
Jörgen Brilling,
Daniel Göritz,
Frédéric L'Épée and
Erich Schachtner.
The programm of the ensemble offers variable combinations: besides works for e-guitar quartet (or bigger formations), trios, duos and solos are featured as well.
e - w e r k performs mainly pieces from contemporary "classical" composers, some of whom may have flirted with rock or jazz or are connected with the experimental music world (Cage, Reich, Frith, Bignardi, Dramm, Försch, Beinke, Brady, Weissberg, Bornhöft...). The quartet also includes in its performances adaptations of works ranging from Debussy's Preludes to pieces by such avant-garde rock guitarists/composers as Frank Zappa or Robert Fripp.
During their first season,
e - w e r k performed several German premieres (F. Försch M4c3 #4, D. Weissberg À Trois, D. Dramm The stroke that kills, N. Didkovsky Out to bomb fresh kings and To laugh uncleanly at the nurse, amongst others) as well as commissioned world premieres that have been written for the quartet (A. Nowitz Touch, A. F. Staffel Kreisen des Quadrats) in concert series and festivals such as the oh ton Kultursommer in Oldenburg, the Unerhörte Musik in Berlin and the Festival Intersonanzen in Potsdam.