Ensemble Phœnix Basel was initiated and founded in 1998 by the conductor and pianist Jürg Henneberger, the flutist Christoph Bösch and the percussionist Daniel Buess. It is one of the most important ensembles for contemporary music in Switzerland and is internationally present with various forms of performance and a variable instrumentation. Concert tours worldwide include performances at the Biennale di Venezia, the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, the Warschauer Herbst, the Klangspuren Schwaz, the 2011 BEAMS Electronic Music Marathon in Boston, the Festival del Centro historico in Mexico City and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
The ensemble's own programmes, performed mainly in the Gare du Nord concert hall in Basel, are also performed in other Swiss cities. The ensemble has taken part in the Lucerne Festival on several occasions and also has numerous joint productions with the International Society for New Music Basel and the Basel Music Academy. Another focus of their work is the premiere of new pieces and the commissioning of works as a promotion and challenge programme. In addition, more unusual forms of collaboration are also sought. These include the joint improvisational development of pieces or entire concert programmes with artists from the fields of noise, sound art, free improv and electronica, including John Duncan, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jérôme Noetinger, Z'EV and Robert Piotrowicz. The ensemble was awarded the Thies Knauf Ensemble Prize for New Music (Kulturstiftung Pro Europa) at the European Cultural Awards Ceremonies in Lucerne in 2003, and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Sponsorship Prize in 2004 and 2006. In 2014, they were nominated for the first Swiss Music Prize of the Federal Office of Culture.
As of May 2022