Ole Hübner’s (1993) composition studies in Hanover and Cologne were followed by a master program at the Giessen Institute of Applied Theatre Studies (with Heiner Goebbels a.o.). Since 2018 he has given courses in composition and interdisciplinary sound concepts at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen and the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Wurttemberg; since 2020 he joined the composition class in Dresden (with Mark Andre, Stefan Prins, Manos Tsangaris) as apostgraduate student. Proceeding from models of collective work in theatre originating in the Giessen institute, he, in committed collaboration with Maria Huber & Jakob Boeckh (as the paranormal φeer group), develops modes of radically discursive, democratic and non-hierarchic work genesis and coauthership for music theatre. Furthermore, he is a continuous member of the German-Swiss music theatre collective The Navidsons. He has collaborated in music theatre productions such as The Navidson Records (Devaud, Dick, Hübner, Hverring, Lim, Quindici, Schiefer, Tesche, Wyler von Ballmoos a.o.; Münchener Biennale 2016), Orpheus Moments (Blum, Boeckh, Hübner, Tesche; La Biennale di Venezia 2017), вепрь и рыба(Boar and Fish; Hübner, Malinina, Tcvetkova-Plotnikova; Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre 2018), Revolutions Per Minute (Heemann, Hübner, Mihály, Ripchinsky, Wehr; Gallus Theater, Frankfurt/Main, 2019) and Ødipus REC. (Devaud, Huber, Hübner, Tesche, Wyler von Ballmoos, Ensemble Lemniscate, Taylor, Douglas; Gare du Nord Basel). The opera opera, opera, opera! revenants and revolutions based on a libretto by Thomas Köck has been created for the Münchener Biennale 2020 in cooperation with the Halle Opera House. However, Ole Hübner is strongly committed to concert music as well.

In this field, he has worked together with Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Decoder Ensemble, NAMES Ensemble, airborne extended, and several soloists, especially in the field of vocal music. His music has been performed in Europe, Asia and North America.Throughout all genres, the enrichment and reassessment of knowledge and techniques of contemporary music through theatric and theatrologicalperspectives is of crucial interest to him. In many of his works, performative aspects that are inherent to the playing itself are focused and worked out by compositional means. The development of exceptional sound combinations with no electronics at all has eminently excited him for a couple of years, so the involvement of a variety of instrument preparations, additional sound generators and everyday objects has been distinctive of his recent ensemble works. Starting from 2021, Ole Hübner is the artistic director of the Musik 21 Festival for contemporary music in Hanover. He has been awarded several times: 63rdComposition Prize of the Federal State Capital of Stuttgart in 2018; a residency at the Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, in 2019; a residency provided by the German Federal Government at La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, in 2019/20.

www.olehuebner.de

Alexander Kaiser is a composer from Italy (born 1985), currently living in Vienna. He studied composition with Christian Minkowitch at the University of Music and Arts in Vienna and with Beat Furrer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.
He took part in several master classes and received lessons from Georg Friedrich Hass, Peter Ablinger, Jörg Widmann, Dieter Ammann, Isabel Mundry, Clemens Gadenstätter, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Enno Poppe, Dimitri Kourlianski and Lucia Ronchetti. His music has been premiered, presented and commissioned by festivals, institutions and ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Interface Ensemble, Studio for New Music Ensemble, Schallfeld Ensemble, Platypus Ensemble,
The Black Page Orchestra, Ensemble Noen, Reconsil Ensemble, Konzerthaus Wien, Musikverein Wien, Radiokulturhaus Wien, Vienna International Saxfest, Wien Modern, Klangspuren Schwaz, Transart Festival, MATA Festival, Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Gustav Mahler Musikwochen. He attended the impuls Akademie and the Donaueschinger Musiktage several times, received the State Scholarship for Composition of the Republic of Austria in 2019 and was a three-time finalist of the Ö1 Talentebörse Composition Prize.

www.kaiser-alexander.com

Emre Sihan Kaleli is a Turkish composer currently based in Vienna. He studied and acquired professional experience in four countries: Turkey, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, and Austria. Close artistic collaborations with certain soloists and collectives, namely Matthias Arter (oboe, Switzerland), Aleksandra Bajde (voice & performance, Slovenia), the Omnibus Ensemble (Uzbekistan), the pre-art soloists (Switzerland), the Nieuw Ensemble (the Netherlands), and the Ensemble Modelo62 (the Netherlands), played a significant role in his artistic development. His studies under Richard Ayres, extra-curricular mentorship of Joël Bons, and the master-classes with Dmitri Kourliandski have been other important influences on him.

Most of Kaleli's compositions strongly differ from one another, displaying a plurality of aesthetic directions and accompanying technical tools. Nonetheless, it can be observed that his music strongly tends to be expressive – it is impulsive with frequent and abrupt changes, and rich in the sense of diversity of musical scenes and situations that it presents.

www.emresihankaleli.com

Sonja Mutić is a composer, performer and PhD candidate at Harvard University. She works with sounds at thresholds of silence, harmony and noise, using minimal means to create textures of maximal expressive weight. She is interested in slowness, artistic self-exposure and vulnerability.

Born in Croatia and raised in Serbia, Sonja finished master studies at the University of Arts in Belgrade, postgraduate studies at Kunstuniversität Graz, and is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University, studying with Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku.

She is the winner of the Adelbert W. Sprague Prize, Harvard University (2021, 2020), Hildegard Competition (2020), impuls prize (2019), Styria-Artist-in-Residence Graz (2018), Judith Lang Zaimont Prize (2017), Sigismund Toduţă (2017), Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik (2016), Young Composers Meeting (2014), Künstlerhaus Boswil artist-in-residence (2014-15), pre–art (2013), Josip Slavenski (2011). 

Her music was performed by Ensembles Elision, Cairn, National Sawdust, Constellation Chor, Schallfeld, Studio 6, Lucerne Festival Alumni, Orkest de Ereprijs, pre-art and Fractales amongst others, with performances at Lucerne Festival, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, International Rostrum of Composers, Festival ensemble(s), impuls Minuten Konzerte, Culturescapes, Echofluxx, mise-en, International Review of Composers etc. 

www.sonjamutic.com

Born in Dec. 1989, Shanghai, Yiqing Zhu is a Chinese composer and pianist. Since his early age, he started to play accordion, piano, bayan accordion, violin, Chinese Pipa and classical guitar. He began composing in 2008 at Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Prof. Huang Lv and Prof. Guohui Ye; after one year of Erasmus with Prof. Niels Rosing-Schow at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, he continued his study (Konzertexamen Composition) at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart under the guidance of Prof. Marco Stroppa from 2016 to 2019.

His piece "DeepGrey" (for orchestra) won the First Price of Basel Composition Competition 2021. He is also the winner of Impuls competition (Graz) 2019, Dyce competition (Milan) 2019 and 3rd Prize winner of Singapore Chinese Orchestra competition 2011. His works were played in various Music Festivals and Concerts, such as Manifeste 2017, ilSuono contemporary Music Week 2017, Lucerne Festival 2018, Shanghai New Music Week 2018, Festival Archipel 2019, Dyce project 2019, Impuls Festival 2021 etc. Apart from contemporary music, he also works in the fields of Eastern traditional music, electronic music, jazz music, film music, world music as well as popular music.

His music was commissioned or performed by numerous soloists and, among others, Ensemble Intercomtemporain, Basel Sinfonietta, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble of Lucerne Festival Alumni, Klangforum Wien, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Quatour Diotima, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble U, Ensemble Cikada, Taller Sonoro, Ensemble xx. Jarhundert Wien, Ensemble Soundstreams, Ensemble Suono Giallo, Han String Quartet, Ensemble Novel, Copenhagen Piano Quartet, Ensemble Echtzeit, Telegraph Quartet, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, etc.

yiqingzhu.com