Darmstadt On Air

In episode #26 Peter Meanwell (tutor of the seminar “Words On Music” this summer) interviewed Xwélmexw (Stó:lō/Skwah) artist, curator and writer Dylan Robinson about his book “Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies”. Published by University of Minnesota Press in 2020 “Hungry Listening“ presents an excoriating critique of colonial assimilation practices in the classical art...

In the Darmstadt On Air podcast tutors of the Darmstadt Summer Course talk to a person of their choice and this time they start their conversation from a particular piece of music, a book, a piece of art, a performance, recording etc. In episode #25 Danish accordionist Andreas Borregaard talks with his compatriot composer Niels Rønsholdt about "Until Nothing Left", a solo piece for a performing ac...

We are beginning a new season of the Darmstadt On Air podcast: Darmstadt Summer Course tutors talk to a person of their choice and this time they start their conversation from a particular piece of music, a book, a piece of art, a performance, recording etc. In episode #24 Kate Molleson (tutor of the seminar "Words On Music" this summer) interviewed composer Cassandra Miller about her viola concer...

Episode number 22 of Darmstadt On Air presents a conversation between choreographer and director Vera Tussing and composer Michael Picknett. They talk about the intersection between composing and choreographing using devising techniques. They specifically refer to one of their latest collaborations – Tactile Quartet(s) –, a dance performance that was realized in collaboration with four dancers and...

One of the central themes of this year’s Darmstadt festival is artistic collaboration and collective creativity. We are interested in how collaborative processes work, especially in the field of musical creation, where we still have a strong concept of authorship, division of labour between composers and performers, but on the other hand collaboration is fundamental for big parts of music making....

For the 20th episode of Darmstadt On Air, we will hear an interview with composer Alvin Singleton, conducted by historical musicologist Harald Kisiedu and composer George Lewis on July 19 2021. In 1972, Singleton’s work Argoru II for cello was the first ever to be performed by a Black composer at the Darmstadt Summer Course. Two years later, his Be Natural for three string instruments received the...

For the 19th episode of Darmstadt On Air, two composers have picked music that they like and find beautiful. Starting with one moment from each other’s oeuvre, Hans Thomalla and Katherine Young discuss music by the Roscoe Mitchell Sextet, by Carola Bauckholt and by Michelle Lou. And they also ask what makes beautiful moments, as did Theodor W. Adorno in his radio essay from 1965 which has the same...

Tunnels and threads between concept and performance, the pleasure of hanging out in the world of the initial idea, collective decision making processes: In episode 18 of Darmstadt On Air we are listening to a conversation between composers Malin Bång and Juliana Hodkinson. Malin will be composition tutor at the next Darmstadt Summer Course, Juliana was in 2018. The two artists met some years ago w...

Episode 17 of Darmstadt On Air is about political activism in music. It is hosted by Peter Meanwell, music journalist and artistic director of Borealis, a festival for experimental music that takes place every year in Bergen, Norway. This year, you can experience the festival online from March 17 to March 21. Peter talks to Marshall Trammell who is invited as Borealis' artist in residence. Born in...

We are back from the winter break with episode 16 of Darmstadt On Air, a series of conversations hosted by the Darmstadt Summer Course tutors: Flute tutor Claire Chase met composer Marcos Balter with whom she has been working on several projects, for example the solo flute piece „Pan“ which also exists as a 90-minute music theatre for flute, electronics and participants. Starting from this piece,...

The 15th episode of Darmstadt On Air is hosted by a new composition tutor of the Darmstadt Summer Course: Sarah Nemtsov. She invited the set designer Sebastian Hannak to be her conversation partner in this podcast. At the opera house in Halle he created „Raumbühne Heterotopia“ in 2017, a 360° stage installation conceived as a music-theatre-city where the borders between audience, orchestra and per...

Episode #14 of the Darmstadt On Air podcast is dedicated to composer-performer collaborations. It is hosted by the Austrian double bass player and improviser Uli Fussenegger (*1966) who has been involved in the Darmstadt Summer Course as a tutor for many years. As a soloist and former longtime member of Klangforum Wien Uli has been collaborating with many different composers and has experienced a...

„Collaborating is the main life force for me.“ Two inspiring harpists have met for the Darmstadt On Air podcast #13: Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir is an Icelandic harpist based in Berlin, founding member of Ensemble Adapter and harp tutor of the Darmstadt Summer Course since 2014. She invited harpist and improviser Rhodri Davies, who is a based in Swansea, South Wales. He plays harp, electric harp, live...

Talking in the now now: Darmstadt composition and oboe tutor Cathy Milliken is interviewing composer Liza Lim for the 12th Darmstadt On Air podcast. Cathy and Liza, both born in Australia, have known each other for quite a long time. They appreciate each other’s work and share a big interest in collaborative practices. Both of them understand composing as a process of working with and being influe...

The New York based, Chinese born composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and performer Du Yun will be teaching composition at the next Darmstadt Summer Course for the first time. She hosted the 11th edition of the Darmstadt On Air podcast and invited Raven Chacon to the talk, her collaborator in the opera production “Sweet Land” which was premiered in the beginning of 2020. Raven was born in For...

„Some people drink a glass of whisky, some people probably sniff coke, some people drink a beer, I like dressing up.“ The 10th episode of the Darmstadt On Air podcast is about visibility in electronic music. Sebastian Berweck is a pianist and electronic musician who gives workshops on electroacoustic performance practice at the Darmstadt Summer Course. He invited the self-taught experimental elect...

The 9th episode of Darmstadt On Air is dedicated to composer Annea Lockwood who is interviewed by music journalist and Darmstadt tutor Kate Molleson. Annea was born in Christchurch/New Zealand in 1939 and moved to England in 1961to study composition at the Royal College of Music in London. In the same year, she took part in the Darmstadt Summer Course for the first time. Registered as Anna Ferguso...

In the 8th episode of Darmstadt On Air Alexander Schubert, multimedia composer and tutor of the Darmstadt Summer Course, spoke to the German theater director Susanne Kennedy via Zoom. They both share an interest in digital tools and the artistic potential of virtuality in a performative setting. As the starting point for their discussion, each of them describes one of their recent works: Susanne’s...

In the 7th episode of Darmstadt On Air we are witnessing the start of a new artistic collaboration between two extraordinary musicians: Marco Blaauw, trumpet player of Ensemble Musikfabrik, soloist and Darmstadt brass tutor has started a series of seven commissions that take the human breath as their main idea and inspiration. Ayanna Witter-Johnson will contribute one of the new pieces for trumpet...

Episode 6 of Darmstadt On Air is hosted by pianist and Darmstadt piano tutor Nicolas Hodges: He talks to conductor and curator Ilan Volkov about programming, about working relations with composers, about how a canon or several canons evolve and how to go against that.

Stefan Prins, composer, performer, co-director of the Nadar Ensemble, Professor of Composition & director of the Hybrid Music Lab at the Hochschule für Musik “Carl Maria von Weber” Dresden, talks to Beth Coleman. Coleman is not only the author of the book “Hello Avatar!, Rise of a networked generation”, electronic musician and digital art creator, but also holds a PhD in comparative literature and...

The fourth episode of Darmstadt On Air is hosted by Lucas Fels, cellist of the Arditti Quartet and Darmstadt cello tutor. Lucas visited Ellen Fallowfield in Basel in July 2020. Like Lucas, Ellen has a particular focus on contemporary music as a cellist. She is also a researcher and the creator of cellomap.com, an online resource for modern cello techniques. They talked about legendary cellists lik...

The third episode of Darmstadt On Air, the audio podcast of the Darmstadt Summer Course, is hosted by Antye Greie-Ripatti, also known as Poemproducer or AGF. Antye is a German electronic musician and composer, now living in Northern Finland. She chatted with YATTA, a Los Angeles and Brooklyn based interdisciplinary artist and musician. YATTA has shared the stage with musicians like Cardi B, Willia...

The second episode of Darmstadt On Air, the new audio podcast of the Darmstadt Summer Course on music and experiment, is dedicated to the role of interpreting artists. Yaron Deutsch, founder and guitar player of Ensemble Nikel seeks to shed some light on the importance of musicians for bringing new pieces into life. He asked Irvine Arditti, founder and first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, to di...