L’Ensemble Ensemble
« Make rhizome, not root. »
Mari Kvien Brunvoll vocals, electronics
Eve Risser piano, flute, vocals
George Dumitriu violin, viola
Kim Myhr guitar
Toma Gouband drums, percussion
Initiated by Eve Risser, the meeting of these musicians forms a triangle on a European map that one unfolds to embark on a quest, if one considers their countries of origin. Because their compositions invite us to a game of exploration.
A hunt for the beginnings of what is not yet called traditional or folk music, but music rooted in a territory and inherited by human cells, souls, and bodies. Dumitriu’s Romania, Kvien Brunvoll and Myhr’s Norway, Risser’s Alsace and Gouband’s Dordogne, their respective sonic folklore, are nestled at the heart of the organic music they play Ensemble. Together. There is something elementary about this quintet whose name immediately tells us a lot: repetition, ritournelles (refrains), the collective, the mirror. See how this music unfolds.
Rich in their own journeys and sources of inspiration, each musician is closely attuned to their partners and the fertile spaces where the impulse is born. The unique touch of each is clearly recognizable, and the strings—whether they crackle on the viola, rustle and are amplified on the guitar, chirp like a bird, or whether the notes resonate in the body of the piano—all find their place without chaos.
Breath, stones, leaves, wood, and percussion form the precious link. With its extended playing techniques, L’Ensemble Ensemble builds, by small touches, an experience that is unique and tangible each time, inviting reflection on the origins of music. Composition and improvisation blend together. The repertoire joins that of ancient songs offered in a new way, a reiterated symphony of nature. It is present in each of the five movements of a first album that attests to their great poetic complementarity.
“I realized with this group that the casting, the choice of musicians, their combination from the start was the most decisive element of composition. That is to say, by meticulously selecting the personalities, one can already succeed in making an orchestra sound good. Today, I no longer position myself as a leader at all. Certainly, I brought people together initially, but this group now functions as a true collective, in the way the music is created, in decision-making, and in spontaneous composition,” confides Eve Risser.
Eve Risser met George Dumitriu via the Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler and perceived in this violinist and violist the stability necessary to anchor the group’s sound. She regularly collaborates with guitarist Kim Myhr. From The New Songs (with Sofia Jernberg and David Stackenäs) to the group Sympathetic Magic, their complicity and dense language have been mutually reinforced over a decade of shared concerts. The strong alchemy with the French musician Toma Gouband, paradoxically, is not due to language but to an instinct for playing that cannot be explained and is therefore, according to the pianist, extremely “liberating.” Finally, it was thanks to the 12 Points festival that Risser crossed paths with Mari Kvien Brunvoll, who was playing the first part of Donkey Monkey. Because her voice and work defy the categories of a jazz singer—one only needs to listen to the trio Building Instrument to be convinced—she naturally finds her place in an electric and electronic music, where vibrations aggregate and breaths, including that of the flute, Risser’s second instrument, flutter and intertwine.
BMC Records January 2026
Mari Kvien Brunvoll is a singer and composer based in Bergen. She is known for her live solo voice/electronics project. She also participates in collaborations with Building Instrument, Moskus/Stein Urheim, Espen Sommer Eide and Ricardo Villalobos, as well as with visual artists like Ane Hjort Guttu and Simone Hooymans. She often collaborates with artists from other artistic fields such as film, theater, and dance, and she creates sound installations.
The French pianist Eve Risser began playing the piano and flute at a young age. She studied both instruments at the Colmar Conservatory before dedicating herself exclusively to jazz piano and improvisation, first in Strasbourg, then at the CNSM in Paris. In her music, Eve merges the fantastical and feminism, which she integrates into contemporary and experimental jazz. For her compositions, she gladly draws inspiration from nature: mountains, snow, minerals… Eve Risser now has five albums to her name, including the latest, Eurythmia (2022), which she created with the Red Desert Orchestra, composed of twelve musicians.
Born in Romania, George Dumitriu lives in Amsterdam. A multi-instrumentalist (viola, violin, guitar, and electronics) and composer, he is internationally active in the fields of jazz, improvisation, contemporary classical music, and world music. Leading his projects Monk on Viola, Hazard Ensemble, and DUMItRIO or in collaboration with Sanem Kalfa Duo, Black Sea Songs, Tijn Wybenga & AM.OK, Kaja Draksler Octet, Alex Simu Quintet, North Sea String Quartet, Blink Quartet, he performs regularly on major international jazz and improvised music stages and festivals.
The Norwegian guitarist and composer Kim Myhr has been touring internationally since the early 2000s and has released several albums under his own name. His album You | me (2017) was nominated for the Nordic Music Prize and was widely acclaimed internationally. As a composer, he has written music for the Australian Art Orchestra, the Canadian string quartet Bozzini, the Kitchen Orchestra, and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra of Norway; he has collaborated with Jenny Hval, Tony Buck of The Necks, Lasse Marhaug, Christian Wallumrød, the poet Caroline Bergvall, and many others.
Toma Gouband is a musician, improviser, inventor, researcher, and composer. He plays music on drums arranged using singing stones, drums, branches, leaves, and other raw objects that he gathers. Attracted by the study of numbers and proportions, he develops a philosophy that allows him to understand polyrhythmic phenomena and integrate them into composition and improvisation.
L’Ensemble Ensemble is a co-production with ReVeR music
Contact : ensemble.ensemble@astropi.net
