Idea/Mission Statement

„Contemporary music as a means of communication shows us the path to the future and is our heritage for the next generations.“

“Composer Collider Europe – CCE” is a series of transnational activities for composition students and alumni from three partner universities (Cologne, Thessaloniki, Den Haag) and interested amateurs. It  offers them the opportunity to work with professional composers, professors and the musicians of Ensemble Musikfabrik. It begins in November 2017 and will end with a final tour in 2020.

CCE consists of three central elements:

  1. CCE-Workshops for composition students
  2. Spielbar for amateurs
  3. Concerts

The composer collider workshops are an ideal forum for  the young composers to efficiently communicate their musical goals, and to explore new boundaries in instrumental technique.

They are also a musical laboratory where the young composers can experiment, collaborate and communicate with the Musikfabrik musicians and each other.

The young composers are paving the way for an international career by building networks and experiencing exemplary performances and recordings. The compositions will be all performed on a final tour in all of the participating countries.

Spielbar describes an innovative and playful artistic lab. Audience members are encouraged to participate in contemporary music making, under the direction of the young composers. There are no barriers for participating at Spielbar. Any person, wether disabled, old or young, is invited to become a part of this innovative compositional process utilising his/her individual skills, which do not have to be of a musical nature. All the works that are used in these sessions have a very open conception, and give the participants the possibility to be creative and to become deeply involved in the process of compositional development. The young composers are faced with the challenge of being composer, director and musician in one person.

The project was conceived as a pilot project and could be continued in other European countries. The project Composer Collider Europe would create several bridges in the European contemporary composition music sector, utilizing the knowledge of well-known European universities, professors, students, interested non-professionals and Ensemble Musikfabrik.

The bridges are:

  • The Exchange of characteristic features in the world of new music composition
  • Aesthetic and cultural dialogue between young composers and professional musicians, deepening of technical composing skills and communication strategies for sucessful artistic creation
  • To bring the idea of „Composer Collider“ and „Spielbar“ to different European countries
  • Network and portfolio building for young composers
  • Audience outreach through low barrier workshops with artistic experience as a bridge to contemporary music contents
  • Development of a new audience for contemporary music
  • Implementation for a sensibility for European heritage and for the European Identity