test kitchen concert series

In its test kitchen series, the collective MAM.manufaktur für aktuelle musik invites artists to engage in dialogue with the ensemble’s musicians and explore different models of collaborative work. Contemporary music is increasingly created not solely at a desk or in a studio, but through collaborative processes in which composition and performance form a dialectical process. At the same time, the scope of activity for composers is expanding once again, as they think, conceive, and write from their own practice as composer-performers or improvisational musicians. Making these developments transparent and placing them at the center of musical creation is the core of test kitchen: The format takes new forms of artistic collaboration into account, creates a space for experimentation, and documents them in public presentations.

MAM launched test kitchen in 2022. In 2026, the collective plans to present two editions featuring relevant voices in contemporary music in Cologne and Berlin: Georgia Koumará, and the jazz trio GRÜNEN.

The trio GRÜNEN, led by drummer Christian Lillinger, moves between (free) jazz and free improvisation. Together with ten musicians from MAM, the trio explores the tension in contemporary music between beat and experiment. Georgia Koumará collaborates on the theremin with the ensemble’s electronic musicians: Vincent von Schlippenbach, Florian Zwißler, Oxana Omelchuk, and Paul Hübner operate turntables, analog synthesizers, effects pedals, and no-input mixers, collectively creating a kind of analog feedback orchestra.

The test kitchen 2026/27 concert series is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
manufaktur-aktuelle-musik.de

Dates

September 14, 2026
Bogen 2, Cologne

January 17, 2027
Stadtgarten, Cologne

January 19, 2027
Konzerthaus Berlin

February 23, 2027
km28, Berlin