In 2017 the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation initiated the Progetto Positano scholarship for young compo­sers. Each year the programme offers to two recipients a four-week working residence at the Wilhelm Kempff Kulturstiftung’s Casa Orfeo on the Amalfi coast in Italy. Following their residencies, works of the scholarship recipients will be presented by ensemble mosaik at a double portrait concert in Berlin. In 2018 composers Manuel Rodríguez-Valenzuela and Andreas Eduardo Frank were awarded the residency. The grant recipients are appointed annually by ensemble mosaik in consul­tation with the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. It is not possible to apply.
Multimedia works by 2018 scholarship recipients Andreas Eduardo Frank and Manuel Rodríguez-Valen­zuela will be performed by the ensemble in December 2018. With his Restore Factory Defaults and a new piece for ensemble, Frank broaches the issue of interaction between reality and virtual reality, music and performance. Rodríguez-Valenzuela currently deals with intertextuality, re-interpretation of works of the past and subjective sincerity in the composing process. His 64 daily self-portraits/micro-variations on a motive of Brahms, his new ensemble piece <29> and his T(t) – Blocks D for three amplified electronic typewriters, video and objects will also be presented.
In 2017 Johan Svensson received the first of the Progetto Positano scholarships.

The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is dedicated to contemporary music in a wide variety of ways. Alongside its annual presentation of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for an outstanding life’s achievement, three Composers’ Prizes are awarded per year. Furthermore, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation promotes about 150 contemporary music projects a year worldwide.

Founded in 1997, ensemble mosaik has evolved to become a particularly diverse and ex­peri­­men­tal formation in the field of contemporary music. Beyond their outstanding instrumental skills they display creative individuality and a never-ending joy in experiments. In years of tight cooperation they have created an entity of sound that is highest ranking both in artistic competence and openness to the most diverse concepts of contemporary music.
Close cooperation with up-and-coming composers and the tying in of digital media are key to the ensemble’s work in composition, interpretation and presentation. It prefers an egalitarian workflow between all participants in a project. Transparency helps focus and intensify creativity. ensemble mosaik has cooperated with many composers over the years, thus enhancing a musical development in mutuality.
A special focal point is the reflection of new approaches in performance, such as including scenic and visual elements, and the trying of new concert formats, shedding light on shared contexts connecting individual works, consolidating current strands and probing new perspectives. In cooperation with artists from other fields and musical genres, the concerts themselves become experimental designs.

www.ensemble-mosaik.de

Manuel Rodríguez-Valenzuela | 64 daily portraits

www.manuel-rodriguez.com

Manuel Rodríguez-Valenzuela | <29> (parts I+II+III)

Andreas Eduardo Frank (*1987, Nuremberg, Germany) is a composer, media artist and performer. He studied at the Würzburg Music Academy and at the Electronic Studio of the Basel Music Academy. His oeuvre is versatile and marked by close collaboration with other young musicians and artists on an international level.
In his works, Andreas explores the interface of real and virtual, of music, performance, video and theatre. His pieces are usually preceded by an overarching poetic idea, which is then con­textua­lized in the music in a manner that
may range from comical to nihilistic. Numerous of his works were performed in Europe, Asia, and America. He has won several awards for this work.

www.andreas-eduardo-frank.de