HELIX! New Music Ensemble of Rutgers University was founded in 1990 by its director, Paul Hoffmann and is devoted to the presentation of all classical styles of Twentieth-Century music, with an emphasis on music composed since 1950. The instrumentation of the group is typically flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano and percussion. The players, having been chosen for their outstanding performance abilities and dedication to contemporary music, are given teaching assistantships and fellowships to be in this group.

HELIX New Music Ensemble 2008
From left Back row: Paul Hoffmann, Director; Ron Surak, composer; Leo Lo, violinist; Matthew Kallend, percussion; Joshua Booth, composer; Don Dolan, piano; Craig Woodward, composer ; John Warren, composer ; Paul Undreiner, composer
Front row: Dina Goikhman, piano; Sung-Won Hwang, clarinet; Ashley Yin-Hsuan Chen, cello; I-Yun Tu, flute

Since its inception, HELIX! has premiered many compositions written for the group by Rutgers and other composers and has performed numerous pieces written by major composers of our time. It has performed in such places as Lincoln Center in New York City, the Noyes Museum in New Jersey, and various colleges on the east coast.