The El Cimarrón Ensemble, founded in 1999 by Michael Kerstan, Ivan Mancinelli, and Christina Schorn, is dedicated to contemporary music and musical theater. The ensemble has performed, among other places, in Hallein, at the Kammeroper Tübingen, in the Felsenreitschule for the opening of the Salzburg Festival (1999), at Theater Nürnberg, in the Aspekte festival in Salzburg, at NDR in Hamburg (for the celebrations for H. W. Henze’s seventy-fifth birthday), at the guitar festival in Monopoli (southern Italy), at Theater Konstanz, and at the Sommertheater Überlingen. Composers such as Agustin Castilla-Ávila, Stefan Hakenberg, Sabine E. Panzer, and Stefano Taglietti have dedicated pieces to the ensemble.

"Several weeks ago I had an opportunity to see and hear the rehearsals of my recital El Cimarrón by the El Cimarrón Ensemble of Junge Kultur in Hallein. I was very impressed by the energy, the artistic élan, and the human commitment they manifested in an almost overwhelming way. In Michael Kerstan’s staging this 'performance' becomes a very impressive, moving, and enthralling action, and I wish them luck and great success and thank them for their outstanding work." – Hans Werner Henze, June 10, 1999

Press reviews:
"Ensemble brilliantly takes over the atmospheres …" (Schwäbische Zeitung)

"… A thoroughly credible, committed, and exemplary performance … Performed with drama, atmosphere, and diverse and technical brilliance on the instrument …" (Reutlinger General-Anzeiger)

"… The ensemble playing of the musicians who understand and pursue their 'roles' blindly and skillfully master the alternation between fully composed passages and improvised interludes … Outstanding musicians and a work of art that will surely make waves on peaceful Lake Constance." (Thurgauer Zeitung)