Kompass Ensemble
to wield a broken sword
Founded in 2018, Kompass Ensemble approaches the curatorial problematics of new music of the 21st century not only from the tradition of commissioning, premiering and spreading the music of living composers, but more importantly from the questioning of the “new” as yet one more historical practice. Concepts such as authorship, originality and avant-garde will be the focus of attention in each project, seeking to find that what is new in music before we are even capable of recognizing it as new. In search of this gap, we develop projects and open spaces for collaboration with other soloists and ensembles like, a. o. Nexus Quartett, False Relationships Ensemble or percussionist Nanae Kubo.
Our project has been made possible thanks to the cooperation and support of institutions such as Mehrklang Freiburg e.V., Depot.K Kunstverein, the Institute for New Music and the Office for Gender Equality of the HfM Freiburg, as well as Freiburgs Culture office
Actual projects include "Anatomy of Melancholy" (2021) with the early music ensemble Nexus Quartett, the patchwork-piece "INSEKTEN" (2020/21), centers on the gap between the concepts of authorship and composition in a work that, being composed of more than 100 miniature pieces by composers from all corners of the world.
Other proyects include "h(Ö)rbarium" (2020), a collaboration with Freiburgs Art Gallery Depot.K e.V., "Green Eyes of the Red Night" (2019) with percussionist and performance artist Nanae Kubo with support of Merhklang e.V. and Studierendenwerk Freiburg, and "Art & Schock, a portrait of Lisa Streich" (2018) in collaboration with Ensemble Recherche, as well as the New Music Institute and Gender Equality Office of the HfM Freiburg.
Swaantje Kaiser
VIOLIN
She completes her Bachelor studies in 2020 at the HfM Freiburg with Gottfried von der Golz and Sebastian Hamann. Masterclasses with Christian Sikorski, Guy Braunstein, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Harald Kimmig (Improvisation) and masterclasses for Barockvioline with Gottfried von der Goltz, Petra Müllejans, Reinhard Goebel and Ton Koopman complete her education.
She is a founding member of the Nexus Quartett (early music) and the Kompass Ensemble (contemporary music). She has been a member a. o. of the Deutschen Streicherphilharmonie, the NDR Jugendsinfonieorchester, and as Konzertmeister of the Landesjugendorchester Schleswig-Holstein. As a soloist she has performed with the Schleswig-Holstein Sinfonieorchester, the Ensemble Kadenza, the Kammerochester Kiel, among others. Since 2018 she teaches violin at the intercultural orchestra "Con Anima" in Freiburg.
Henry Heizmann & Timotheé de la morinerie
PERCUSSION
Henry Heizmann
PERCUSSION
His beginnings in new music are to be found in his participation in the Baden-Wuerttemberg State Youth Ensemble, under the direction of Viktoriia Vitrenko (2018-19). Since Summer 2020, he studies percussion at the HfM Freiburg with Professor Håkon Stene.
Since 2016 he has been active as a conductor, among others with the Musikverein Friedenweiler-Rudenberg and the Musikverein Harmonie Reiselfingen.
Highlights in 2021 include the premiere of composer Eunhyae Im, a liminal composer halfway between performative sound sculpture and visual art, as well as working with the guidance and collaboration of Shizuyo Oka, clarinetist of the Ensemble Recherche, on the chamber work of Morton Feldmann.
He is a member of Kompass Ensemble since 2021.
Timothée de la Morinerie
PERCUSSION
He studied with Jean Baptiste Couturier at the Conservatoire de Tours. After completing his Bachelor studies at the Pôle Supérieur Paris Boulogne-Billancourt (PSPBB) in the class of Christophe Bredeloup, he is currently studying the Master's programme at the HfM Freiburg with Prof. Håkon Stene, Prof. Bernhard Wulff, Prof. Taijiro Miyazaki and Tilmann Collmer.
Among others, he has participated in the Orchester Les Siècles, conducted by François Xavier Roth, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and the Ensemble Scope.
He is a member of the Kompass Ensemble since 2020
Elena Ralli
PIANO & ELECTRONICS
In 2016 she obtained the National Diploma for Solo Performance in Piano at the "Nikos Skalkotas" Conservatory under the guidance of Julie Troussa. In 2020 she completed the Bachelor in Piano with Éric Le Sage at the HfM Freiburg. Masterclasses with among others Dmitry Bashkirov, Vladimir Viardo, Denis Pascal, Till Fellner and Alexandra Papastefanou complement her academic training. Classes with Klaus Steffen-Holländer, Sven Thomas Kiebler and Alfonso Gómez deepen her practice of contemporary solo and ensemble repertoire. This path broadens from April 2021, since then she studies Master in Electronic Music Composition with Alexander Grebtschenko at the HfM Freiburg.
She is a founding member of the Kompass Ensemble. Awards include the "Maria Cherogiorgou-Sigara" Prize (1st place/ Athens 2018), Jugend Musiziert (2nd place / Stuttgart 2012) and the Santorini International Piano Competition Prize 2009 (3rd place). As a soloist she has given concerts in Greece and Germany in halls such as the Goethe Institut Freiburg, Culture Centre Sifnos, Katakouzenos House Athen, among others.
2021 she obtained her Bachelor degree in Physics of the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens.
Maximiliano A. Soto Mayorga
ARTISTIC DIRECTION
Since 2020 he studies Composition with Johannes Schöllhorn at the HfM Freiburg, where he studies the Konzertexamen programme. Awards include a.o. TONALi20 Composition Prize, IBERMUSICAS Residence Grant 2020, DAAD Prize, Chilean Academy of Fine Arts Composition Prize 2016. He has worked or is currently working with a.o. SWR Symphony Orchestra, Trio Estatico, Ensemble Aventure, LJE Neue Musik BadenWuerttemberg, Kompass Ensemble (Freiburg) and Eliot Quartett (Frankfurt am Main)