Post-Classical Ensemble performs music in the context of its cultural heritage, including folk song, dance, film, and contemporary popular music, in order to serve existing audiences hungry for deeper engagement and to cultivate broader and younger audiences.

Called by The Washington Post “the most thought-provoking music group in town,” Post-Classical Ensemble was created by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz, and made its official debut in May 2003. “More than an orchestra,” it breaks out of classical music, with its implied notion of a high-culture remote from popular art. Its concerts regularly incorporate folk song, dance, film, poetry, and commentary in order to serve existing audiences hungry for deeper engagement, and to cultivate adventurous new listeners.

The Ensemble made its sold-out Kennedy Center debut in Fall 2005 in “Celebrating Don Quixote,” featuring a commissioned production of Manuel de Falla’s sublime puppet opera Master Peter’s Puppet Show. The 2006–2007 season included four programs at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. In 2007–2008, P-CE was presented twice by the Clarice Smith Center, and also by the Library of Congress (“Revueltas in Context,”) and the Strathmore Performing Arts Center (“Free to Sing”).