Thallein Ensemble is a new music student group set up in the early 1990s with graduates from the Birmingham Conservatoire. Principal founders were Alistair Zaldua (composer/conductor), Mark Gasser (pianist), John Webb (composer) and John Meadows (clarinet). The name 'Thallein' — an ancient Greek word meaning "to sprout" or "to shoot forth" — was taken from the composition of the same name by Iannis Xenakis. Within new music circles (in the UK and Scandinavia in particular) they made a name for themselves in performances of Varèse, Xenakis, British music (Michael Finnissy, James Dillon, Mike Vaughan, Richard Barrett) as well as modernist Italian composers Luigi Nono, Aldo Clementi and Luigi Dallapiccola. Varying in size from 8 to 130 players, the ensemble has, to date, given over 60 world premières across Europe.
The ensemble once gave an open-air performance of John Cage's Concerto for Prepared Piano (with Mark Gasser as soloist) during the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, in front of international heads of state. Due to the "sheer volume" and "disruption to the traffic and security" surrounding the signing of the Treaty, the performance was stopped. It also performed work by Harrison Birtwistle to mark his presentation with an honorary doctorate, marking his 80th birthday, and at a similar ceremony for Karin Rehnqvist.
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