Maulwerker
Maulwerker work as an ensemble for experimental vocal music with an expanded notion of music. They integrate elements from performance art, intermedia, conceptual art and contemporary dance theatre. They are an ensemble of composer-performers and a composer collective.
They have mastered immense catalogues of extended vocal techniques and work with the individualities inherent in this work. Their heterogeneity is their quality and strength.
They come from the experimental school of Dieter Schnebel and bring with them the expertise to consciously shape the processes of open scores, to take on the co-compositional responsibility assigned to the interpretation and to present it with physical presence and precision, with musical intelligence and sensitivity and, last but not least, with vocal virtuosity.
The co-composition in open scores leads to the personal union of composers and performers. The Maulwerkers all work as composers who write for themselves, for the group or for other ensembles and soloists. Collective processes of the ensemble are accompanied by one (changing) member as »outside ear«.
In their highly regarded series »maulwerker performing music«, they examine the performative conditions and consequences of experimental music. Each programme is thematically dedicated to one aspect of musical performativity: the compositional material is extended to the body, the space, the situation; movements, objects, light and video are considered as part of the composition. In their »ORTE+RÄUME« [Places+Spaces] series, the Maulwerkers devote themselves to apparent and inconspicuous Berlin locations, such as inner and back courtyards or the Grosser Wasserspeicher (a former water tank), exploring their acoustic peculiarities. In recent years, they have also realised full-length music theatre productions with Makiko Nishikaze, Annette Schmucki and Steffi Weismann.
The Maulwerkers are frequently sought after by composers from different backgrounds. In recent years, there have been fruitful collaborations with Arturas Bumšteinas, Cathy van Eck, Sabine Ercklentz, Cenk Ergün, Boris Filanovsky, Hanna Hartman, Johannes K. Hildebrandt, Margarete Huber, Neo Hülcker, Miika Hyytiäinen, Mazen Kerbaj, Christina Kubisch, Laura Mello, Andrea Neumann, Sagardía, Annette Schmucki, Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, Ute Wassermann, Nicolas Wiese, among others. They have also worked with the Fluxus artists Emmett Williams, Alison Knowles and Ben Patterson. In 2024, the young Ukrainian composer Adrian Mocanu is the Maulwerker's composer-in-residence as a fellow of the »Weltoffenes Berlin« programme.
Further information on the website of Maulwerker.
