Academy

Aside from several instrumental classes for individual musicians and offers for young ensembles and chamber music formations, the impuls Academy 2025 for the first time is specifically inviting young string quartets to join and work with Quatuor Diotima, one of the most in-demand string quartets in the world today.

The Quatuor Diotima has worked in close collaboration with several of the greatest composers of the late twentieth century, notably Pierre Boulez and Helmut Lachenmann. The quartet regularly commissions new works from the most brilliant composers of our time, including Toshio Hosokawa, Miroslav Srnka, Alberto Posadas, Mauro Lanza, Gérard Pesson, Rebecca Saunders and Tristan Murail. Reflected in the mirror of today’s music, the quartet also projects a new light onto the masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially Beethoven, Schubert, the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern), as well as Janáček, Debussy, Ravel and Bartók. Aside from performing worldwide and regular recording activities, the Quatuor Diotima is very active in teaching and training young artists, the Diotima Quartet has recently been an Associate Artist at the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy, an Artist in Residence at the University of Chicago and has been invited to give masterclasses at the University of California in Los Angeles, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Casa del Quartetto in Reggio Emilia and York University.

Meeting their individual interests, profiles and needs, Quatuor Diotima will work with the young string quartets on both literature they suggest and bring along themselves and pieces handed in by young impuls composition participants at a Call for Scores, give advice for other composition of high value for studies, and give support in any way possible, be it on technical, instrumental questions, questions of interpretation, musicological and historical correlations,..., or questions on how to build up an own profil, repertoire, career.

As another important aspect of the impuls Academy´s concept has always been to interconnect composer and performer, the young string quartets are also offered to make use of the rare possibility to work with the renowned composition coaches on a selection of their pieces on spot. Needless to state, impuls of course also encourages the cooperation with the many international young composition participants by a variety of Special Programs for 2025 (amongst others also a Call for String Quartets). On top, individually developed programs and projects for connecting the young string quartets with young composers on spot (such as posting new calls for scores or sketches to be worked on during impuls, developing specific projects, organising first meetings for further cooperation, etc.) can be established – ideas and wishes can be expressed already at the time of registration, a more detailed discussion and elaboration for customized projects is then to follow after a place has been guaranteed to the formation. Also, where desired, a cooperation of the young string quartets with individual musicians or voices participating in the impuls Academy can be established (for example to work on literature, that cannot be realized by the original line-up of the formation itself).

Like all other participants of the impuls Academy 2025, also the young string quartets are welcome to take advantage of the many discourse programs* impuls holds (from daily group lectures to discussions, talks etc.) and enjoy the impuls Festival program*.

Meeting their individual interests and needs as musicians, impuls also offers to work with other coaches on spot, such as Ernst Kovacic or Dimitrios Polisoidis.

Furthermore, the young string quartets will find slots within the Festival to present themselves, be it with repertoire or pieces developed during impuls – as formation, but also, if of interest, as soloists.

Last but not least, the Academy will function as vivid meeting point and platform for interaction, exchange, knowledge-transfer, and networking.

Please check general Conditions for impuls 2025 and proceed with Registration if interested.

In case of further questions, please contact the impuls office at office@impuls.cc

* As the Festival and discourse programs are still in preparation for 2025, you may want to check last year´s edition to get a general idea about the scope and nature of the various offers.