Reconsil was founded in 2002 as ensemble reconsil wien by Alexander Wagendristel, Roland Freisitzer and Thomas Heinisch and is now recognized as one of Austria’s leading ensembles for contemporary music.

In it’s beginnings, the ensemble attracted attention by innovative concert cycles dedicated to performing in Austria rarely heard music (“Reconsil goes East” – including the countries Macedonia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria; and “Reconsil goes Europe” with a.o. Italy, France, Great Britain and Spain) along with music by Austrian composers.

In 2006, the ensemble’s main concert hall and musical home has become the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna and has since then worked with well known guests, such as Christine Whittlesey (soprano), Maria Fedotova (Flute), Stefan Östersjö (Guitar), Ernst Kovacic, Elena Denisova, Evgenia Epshtein, Michael Barenboim (Violin), the Arnold Schönberg Chor and the conductor Christian Karlsen.

In it’s now nearly 17 years, the ensemble has premiered more than 200 works by composers from Austria and internationally renowned composers from all over the world, like Detlev Müller-Siemens, Sidney Corbett, Michael Finnissy, Michael Blake, Karlheinz Essl, Fredrik Österling, Peter Köszeghy, Olga Rayeva, Faraj Karaev and Andrew Toovey.

Apart from contemporary music, classics of the 20th century (Edgar Varèse,  Iannis Xenakis- including the Austrian premiere of KAI, Edison Denisov and Gérard Grisey) and the music of the 2nd Viennese School are a central part of the ensemble’s repertoire. Apart from performing the original works, the ensemble has premiered ensemble versions of Anton Webern’s “Passacaglia”, Arnold Schönberg’s “Violin Concerto” and “Cello Concerto after Monn”, as well as Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto (with Ernst Kovacic).

2007 saw the ensemble take part at the “85 years ISCM Austria Festival” at the “Wiener Konzerthaus” with 5 concerts in 2 days and in 2009, the ensemble was “ensemble in residence” at the “14th Composers Forum Mittersill” (KOFOMI).

2009 also saw the ensemble’s debut at Wien Modern, which has led to another engagement at Wien Modern 2010. 2010 also saw the debut of Ensemble Reconsil at the “Carinthischer Sommer” festival.

During the 2009/2010 season, the ensemble was one of 2 Austrian ensembles (the other being Klangforum Wien) chosen to represent Austria with the RE:NEW MUSIC project, a music project of European Union, with 22 ensembles taking part, such as London Sinfonietta, Oslo Sinfonietta, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, Ensemble TM+ and others. A project, which coincidentally furthered the idea of a inner European repertoire exchange of our “Reconsil goes…” projects. The concert representing music by Croatia, Slovakia and Austria was recorded live at the RadioKulturHaus in Vienna on 1st June 2010 and has been released by the German record label “Spektral Records”.

The ensemble has had collaborations with the Music Universities in Graz and Vienna, the INÖK (composers society representing composers from Lower Austria), the composers group “Ambitus” and the Ministry of Culture Azerbaijan.

The ensemble has performed to high critical acclaim in Barcelona, Munich and at the Ohrid Festival. In 2011, the ensemble performed very successful concerts in Seoul and Baku.

In 2012, the ensemble had a very successful Tour of Central Asia, which included concerts in Bishkek and Almaty. 2013 sees the ensemble return to Macedonia with 2 concerts to represent Austria as first “Country in Focus” at the “International Days of Macedonian Music”. In Autumn 2013, the ensemble performed at the Indonesia Music Summit in Jakarta and at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London.

In 2014 and 2015, the project "Reconsil exploring the World" took place in the Haydn Hall of the Vienna Music University. 42 works commissioned by Austrian composers were juxtaposed with 42 works from 14 countries on all five continents. This remarkable concert cycle can be heard on a 14-CD box released on orlando records.

In 2017, the ensemble, renamed "Reconsil" and with new team of ensemble leaders, performed a cycle of three concerts at the new location REAKTOR, including a cooperation with wien modern. REAKTOR, a former wine tavern and dance hall from the late 19th century, was recently converted into an art and cultural center. There are many possibilities of interdisciplinary presentation, of which film / video and the interaction of composers with visual artists have been used.

New on the board are the composers Manuela Kerer, Norbert Sterk and Peter Jakober (unfortunately already retired) and as a representative of the ensemble the dedicated cellist and photographer Maria Frodl. As permanent guest conductors, Yalda Zamani and Antanina Kalechyts have since proved very successful. The programming of the concerts is now recruited from internationally advertised calls for scores.

In addition to self-programmed events, cooperations with the Austrian composer organizations as well as KulturKontakt Austria and the association "Ambitus" are maintained.

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