Mivos Quartet
The Mivos Quartet is devoted to bringing incredible new string quartet music, in all its variety, to diverse audiences worldwide. Since its founding in 2008, the quartet has performed and closely collaborated with established and emerging composers representing a broad range of demographics and compositional aesthetics. Mivos commissions and premieres new music for string quartet, while also sustainably nurturing the repertoire by offering repeat performances of new works in their regular touring season. The quartet strives for deep, meaningful collaborations with composers for each new work and project. Beyond building the string quartet repertoire, Mivos expands the capabilities of the ensemble by regularly working with guest artists from varied, overlapping traditions and genres. The quartet curates concert programs that they would want to hear – pieces of music that complement each other and offer audiences a rich, powerful and meaningful listening experience.
Recent works commissioned and written for Mivos include pieces by Ambrose Akinmusire, Joël-François Durand, Mary Halvorson, Sarah Hennies, Andile Khumalo, Lei Liang and Alex Mincek. Future premieres will include the composers David Bird, Julie Herndon, Ville Raasakka, Ronnie Reshef and Evan Johnson. In addition to new composed works, the quartet regularly presents multimedia projects and performs improvised music. Mivos has worked closely with diverse artists including as Patrick Higgins (Zs), Sam Pluta, Ned Rothenberg, Timucin Sahin, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Kate Soper and Saul Williams, Ongoing artistic collaborations include projects with Sofia Jernberg, Ambrose Akinmusire (Origami Harvest and honey from a winter stone), guitarist Nadav Lev, 2019 MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson (Amaryllis, Belladonna), and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Cécile McLorin Salvant (Ogresse).
Mivos has performed to critical acclaim at Aldeburgh Music (UK), Carnegie Hall (USA), Lincoln Center (USA), Elbphilharmonie (Germany), Shanghai New Music Week (China), Música de Agora na Bahia (Brazil), Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Lo Spirito della musica di Venezia (Italy), Skaņu Mežs (Latvia), Festival Internacional Chihuahua (México), Wien Moderne (Austria), Hong Kong Arts Center, and the Library of Congress (USA). In recognition of their work in championing new music, the quartet has received the Interpretation Prize at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, as well as the 2019 Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Prize for Interpreters of Contemporary Music.
In addition to their performance season, Mivos is committed to the education of young composers and string players. The quartet is regularly the ensemble-in-residence at summer festivals including the Darmstadt Summer Courses (Germany), the Vienna Contemporary Composers Festival (Austria), VIPA Festival (Valencia, Spain) and Sounds of Now Vienna (Austria). The quartet has conducted workshops at Berklee School of Music, Boston University, Duke University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIAM University (Turkey), Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Shanghai Conservatory (China), UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UW Seattle, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore). Along with their work at educational institutions, Mivos grants the Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize, a yearly award to support the work of emerging and mid-career composers residing in the USA, and the I-Creation prize, an award for composers of Chinese descent worldwide.
Their recent album “Steve Reich: The String Quartets” on Deutsche Grammophon, described as “essential listening” (Morning Star), is the first complete album of Reich’s masterpieces, with all backing tracks recorded anew by Mivos. Other recent albums feature the music of JG Thirlwell (Cantaloupe Music), Lei Liang (New World Records) and Mary Halvorson (Nonesuch). Mivos can also be heard on releases with KAIROS, New Focus Recordings and Tzadik labels.
Basel Sinfonietta (Principal 2nd)
The Basel Sinfonietta is an orchestra with a symphonic instrumentation specializing in contemporary music, and in this respect, it is a unique ensemble in the classical music scene. The principal conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta is Titus Engel.
Driven by its ambition to perform music that is in tune with the times, the Basel Sinfonietta has been breaking with classical concert conventions since its founding in 1980 and demonstrates an eagerness to explore other genres and cultures in its programs.
The Basel Sinfonietta collaborates with leading contemporary composers. The orchestra has commissioned numerous works and has presented more than 240 world premieres and national premieres since its founding.
Broken Frames Syndicate
Broken Frames Syndicate is a ten-piece ensemble of soloists based in Frankfurt am Main dedicated to the interpretation of contemporary music and the expansion of contemporary concert culture. The ensemble was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Ensemble Prize in 2024 for its innovative projects and unmistakable waves already being felt in the frequencies of contemporary music.
Broken Frames Syndicate was founded in 2018 after a year of studying together at the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA). This intensive time has resulted in a strong ensemble bond, freedom while on stage, and fresh interpretations of modern classics and new works. After their studies, the ensemble dove into the freelance scene establishing themselves as a group built on pursuing socially relevant concert programs, collaborating with interdisciplinary artists, and working with young composers.
Wolftone
Wolftone is a duo project composed of Will Overcash (violin) and Ben Roidl-Ward (bassoon). With the goal of expanding the possibilities of their unusual instrumental pairing, this duo collaborates with composers to create exciting new repertoire. Ben and Will got to know each other as students at the Oberlin Conservatory, and formed Wolftone in 2016 while they were both students at Rice University. That summer, they toured to Houston, New York, Chicago, Oberlin, and Cleveland, performing 3 newly commissioned works supported by the Sviatoslov Richter Fund and the Lovett Traveling Fellowship.
In 2017, the duo moved–Will to Frankfurt and Ben to Chicago. Since then, they have continued their collaboration on both continents. Performing throughout the U.S., Germany, and Spain, Wolftone has premiered eight new works to date, recorded for Edition Zeitgenössische Musik (Germany) and Protomaterial Records (Spain), and has garnered support from the Illinois Arts Council (US), the Luminarts Cultural Foundation (US), and the Goethe Institute (GER).
ensemble reflektor (Concertmaster)
The North German chamber-orchestra ensemble reflektor sees itself as an ambassador for a musical culture without borders. The musicians of ensemble reflektor work together to develop concert programs that combine different works beyond their genres. Whether in clubs or industrial halls, as an orchestra or in chamber music ensembles, the musicians create a special closeness to their audience with their creative formats and enable a new approach to music.
The chamber orchestra was awarded the Max Brauer Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation for its social commitment and was the first orchestra ever to receive the NORDMETALL Ensemble Prize from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. The Hanseatic City of Lüneburg also awarded ensemble reflektor the 2021 Art Prize for Music and Theater. In 2024, the Gunter and Juliane Ribke Foundation honored the ensemble for its pioneering work in the field of music education.
The ensemble’s debut CD, “Gewaltakt,” was followed by their second album, “Liebeslied,” in 2020. Albums with the jazz ensemble HOLON Trio and ARD prize winner Mathis Stier were also released. This was followed in 2024 by the release of LAUTER! featuring works by composers Ethel Smyth, Ying Wang, and inti figgis-vizueta.
William Overcash, VIolin 