Soon after the conductor Kristjan Jarvi founded the Absolute Ensemble in 1993, it quickly became established as one of New York’s most versatile and important contemporary-classical groups. But Mr. Jarvi’s tastes ran wider still, taking in jazz, rock, hip-hop and various strains of world music; accordingly, the Absolute Ensemble morphed into an electro-acoustic band better suited to expressing his inclusionary aesthetic. When these musicians last played the city in August 2007, their program combined jazz and Arabic styles.
While the group was away on a lengthy European tour the stylish Bleecker Street nightclub Le Poisson Rouge arrived to provide a focal point for musicians and ensembles whose broad tastes and disregard for stylistic boundaries resembled those of Mr. Jarvi. When the Absolute Ensemble performed there for the first time on Thursday night, it felt like a homecoming in more ways than one.
While the group was away on a lengthy European tour the stylish Bleecker Street nightclub Le Poisson Rouge arrived to provide a focal point for musicians and ensembles whose broad tastes and disregard for stylistic boundaries resembled those of Mr. Jarvi. When the Absolute Ensemble performed there for the first time on Thursday night, it felt like a homecoming in more ways than one.
