COLLIDE Quartet

Sophia Körber, Soprano
Benjamin Hewat-Craw, baritone
Lara Süss, Performance & Text
Franziska Staubach, piano

Since its foundation in 2020, the COLLIDE Quartet has quickly developed into one of the most innovative and experimental ensembles in NRW. Conceptual song programs with music-theatrical elements form the basis. Concept pieces, multimedia and choreographies expand the repertoire from the 16th to the 21st century into an interdisciplinary whole. Their collaboration focuses on combining classical song repertoire with improvisations, sound spectra, sound and video recordings and their own lyrics. The four artists were finalists in the Rhone Festival’s #LIEDINNOVATION competition in 2022 and performed as part of the Westphalian Music Festival Hamm’s Classical Music Prize. In the 2023 season, the quartet performed their program “Das Auge der Zeit” in Hamburg and at the Long Night of Music in Oldenburg and Bremen. This season, the focus is on the world premiere of a composition written especially for the quartet by Moritz Eggert (“Mensch.Wort.Paradies”), which will be performed for the first time at this year’s DAVOS Festival.

The scenic concert program is dedicated to the design of an Elysium. It transports the audience into a future scenario that combines classical art song with scenic-theatrical movement, lyrics, loop station and live video. With the help of artificial intelligence and digital media, mankind has succeeded in creating a modern paradise. In this way, everyone can create their own reality of life that meets their own needs, as long as it does not affect anyone else. It is a world in which disease, hunger, war and disasters are non-existent. What impact does this scenario have on the way we communicate with each other? How does it influence language? What influence does it have on art and on the way music is made? Is it even possible to endure such a flawless world?