Founded by James Poke and John Godfrey in 1989 to play at the new Dutch music festival in York, is a 13-piece group consisting of pan-pipes, saxes, electric violin and cello, guitars, percussion, accordion and keyboards. Icebreaker have established themselves as one of the UK's leading contemporary music interpreters.

As a group of musicians that always plays amplified, it boasts an exciting repertoire which encompasses some of the best known and most influential names in contemporary music today, such as Louis Andriessen, Diderik Wagenaar,
David Lang, Michael Gordon, Yannis Kyriakides and Philip Glass. Icebreaker is not easy to categorise or pigeonhole
in any musical sense. They create a music that appeals to contemporary classical, rock and alternative music audiences alike. Given their unusual instrumental combination, Icebreaker represent a unique voice in British music making.

Icebreaker's most recent albums have been released on the New York-based label Canteloupe Music (www.cantaloupemusic.com). 2005 saw the release of Cranial Pavement, including music by John Godfrey, Richard Craig, Yannis Kyriakides and Conlon Nancarrow, as well as the worldwide release of the new version of Michael Gordon's Trance. This 52-minute work was originally released on Argo in 1996 and this classic recording has been completely re-worked and re-mixed for the Cantaloupe version.

The 2003/4 season saw a major multi-media collaboration with the renowned Dutch ensemble Orkest de Volharding, and singer Christina Zavalloni, entitled Big Noise. The project consisting of four new commissions from leading composers from Britain and Holland, each working in conjunction with a video artist, toured major venues in the UK and the Netherlands.

Other recent projects have included a further performance of The Book of Five with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra
in Germany, recording the music to the independent American film Book of Love, and AtaXia, a collaboration with Wayne McGregor's company Random Dance, based on Trance, premiered in Sadler's Wells, London in June 2004 with further performances in Amsterdam, Bruges and New York. 

www.icebreaker.org.uk

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