The Ethos behind Ensemble Erik

Ensemble Erik takes its name from the iconoclastic French composer Erik Satie, a singular figure in the history of Western music known for his refreshingly unorthodox approach to composition. Satie broke away from the grandiose Romantic traditions of his time, instead favoring simplicity, clarity, and a touch of the absurd—qualities that would later resonate deeply with the avant-garde. His music, often sparse and enigmatic, anticipated many of the aesthetic principles that came to define 20th-century experimentalism. 

Satie's influence loomed large over a generation of American composers, most notably John Cage, who admired his wit, eccentricity, and philosophical approach to sound and silence. In light of this legacy, it is particularly fitting that Ensemble Erik's inaugural performances should spotlight the work of Philip Glass—one of the most prominent figures in contemporary minimalism and a composer whose meditative structures and tonal innovations reflect a lineage traceable, in part, to Satie’s groundbreaking vision.