Ensemble Avantgarde is a chamber group based in Leipzig that consists of members from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Orchestra of Central German Broadcasting (MDR), as well as local soloists and chamber musicians, including the Leipzig String Quartet. Led from its inception in 1989 by pianist Steffen Schleiermacher, who has steadily served as its director, the ensemble's size varies according to the needs of its repertoire, which are core 20th century chamber works. The focus is on the essential masterpieces of modernism, which have a special need for preservation. The ensemble has a special interest in music of an important time or tradition, concentrating on European music in the interwar period, as well as music by American avant-garde composers, and Japanese music. The group hosts the Musica Nova series of concerts in the Leipzig Gewandhaus and has toured across Europe, Asia, and South America. Ensemble Avantgarde has won the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Prize and the Schneider-Schott Prize of Mainz. Its CDs have appeared on Wergo, Hat Hut Records, and Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm.