Ensemble Émigré
Ensemble Émigré is a collaborative initiative developed by Norbert Meyn alongside his research about Music and Migration at the Royal College of Music.
A professional ensemble with flexible membership, Ensemble Émigré combines high level music making and scholarship to create innovative programmes of vocal and instrumental chamber music.
It is dedicated to exploring music connected to migration and human mobility, especially music by émigré composers who fled from Nazi-Europe in the 1930s. The ensemble supports and mentors young professional musicians and provides opportunities for them to work alongside established artists and aims to commission new work.
In 2021, the ensemble released the CD 'Leaves from the Tree of Life'
with chamber music and songs by Robert Kahn (1865-1951).
Five Stars, BBC Music Magazine:
'On this disc of high-quality playing there are many treasures'
Gramophone Magazine:
'Eloquently sung by Norbert Meyn'
Listen on Spotify
Featuring Danny Driver, piano, Gemma Rosefield, cello, Emily Sun, violin, Ingrid Pearson, clarinet, Flora Bain, horn,
Norbert Meyn, tenor and Christopher Gould, piano
Vienna - Berlin - London
An adoptable programme of breathtaking romantic and modernist works by ‘Hitler Emigres’ who found refuge in Britain, presented with a narrative video design.
Featuring Emily Sun, violin, Gemma Rosefield, cello and Danny Driver, piano
Chamber Music and Songs by Franz Reizenstein, Hans Gal, Erika Fox, Matyas Seiber and others.
The concept for this programme was developed during the Music, Migration and Mobility research project at the Royal College of Music.
Performed at:
Royal College of Music (2023)
Émigré Cabaret
Wartime cabaret songs with a story - Norbert Meyn performs cabaret songs by Eric Sanders, Peter Gellhorn, Hans Gal, Hanns Eisler and Kurt Weill.
Performed at:
Islington Festival (2021)
Austrian Cultural Forum London (2022)
Österreichische Gesellschaft für Musik Vienna (2023)
Central School of Speech and Drama, London (2023)
Click here to hear Norbert's recordings of songs by Eric Sanders.
The Sprudeling Fountain
Chamber Music, Piano works and Lieder by Jewish composer Robert Kahn, who wrote almost 1000 piano pieces during his time as a refugee in Britain
Music by Robert Kahn performed at:
Akademie der Künste Berlin, Hanseatenweg (2019)
Gerhard Hauptmann Haus, Hiddensee (2020)
Bankdruecken, Stralsund (2020)
Notenbank Weimar (2020)
New North London Synagogue (2023)
Zentrum für Verfolgte Künste Solingen (2023)
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (2023)
Craxton Memorial Trust, London (2023)
What a Life!
Reviving the extraordinary bilingual revue by emigre composer Hans Gál, written in a British internment camp on the Isle of Man in 1940
Performed at:
Liberal Synagogue London (2017)
Erin Arts Centre, Isle of Man (2017)
Douglas, Isle of Man (2017)
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester (2018)
New North London Synagogue (2019)
and for the Drama Documentary 'Through Lotte's Lens' by Tony Britten
Click here to hear recordings and see sheet music produced during the Music, Migration and Mobility project at the Royal College of Music.