SWR Experimentalstudio

The SWR Experimentalstudio sees itself as an interface between compositional ideas and technical realisation. Every year, several composers are invited to take part in a work scholarship in order to realise their works in discourse with the studio staff. In addition to the production of these works, the studio is also active as a sound body in the performances. With 50 years of presence in the international music scene, it has established itself as the leading orchestra for works with live electronics and performs continuously at almost all major festivals (Berliner Festwochen, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburger Festspiele, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Biennale di Venezia etc.) as well as in several renowned music theatres (including Teatro alla Scala Milan, Carnegie Hall New York, Théâtre de la Monnaie, Teatro Real Madrid). Among the outstanding productions in the history of the Experimental Studio are works by such important composers as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luigi Nono, the latter of whom created almost all of his late works in close association with the studio. Nono’s ‘audio tragedy’ Prometeo has now been realised more than 90 times by the Experimentalstudio since its premiere in 1984 and can be described as a milestone in 20th century music history. Of the younger generation, Mark Andre, Chaya Czernowin and Georg Friedrich Haas in particular stand out as the composers who have produced seminal works at the Experimentalstudio. Among the performers associated with the studio are outstanding musical personalities such as Mauricio Pollini, Claudio Abbado, Peter Eötvös, Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Carolin and Jörg Widmann, Irvine Arditti and Roberto Fabbriciani. The Experimentalstudio has received several international awards for its exemplary work, including the German Record Critics’ Award for the production of works by Luigi Nono. Following Hans-Peter Haller, André Richard and Detlef Heusinger, Joachim Haas has been Head of the Experimentalstudio since 2022.