Experimental Studio of SWR Freiburg

Founded in 1971 by Otto Tomek, the SWR Experimentalstudio operates as a gateway between compositional ideas and their technical realization. Each year, several composers are invited to receive working grants to realize their works through creative collaboration with the studio staff. In addition, the Experimentalstudio participates in performances and, over the course of its 55-year history, has established itself as a leading ensemble for compositions featuring live electronics. It regularly performs at major festivals such as the Berlin and Vienna Festivals, the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Automne in Paris, and the Venice Biennale, and it has been invited to La Scala in Milan, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Carnegie Hall in New York. In doing so, it has collaborated closely with such legendary performers as Claudio Abbado, Irvine Arditti, Daniel Barenboim, Peter Eötvös, Roberto Fabbriciani, Gidon Kremer, Maurizio Pollini, and Carolin and Jörg Widmann. Among the outstanding productions in its history are works by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luigi Nono, whose Prometeo the Experimentalstudio has staged more than 90 times since its world premiere in 1984. From the younger generation of composers, Mark Andre, Chaya Czernowin, and Georg Friedrich Haas, among others, have created new pieces in Freiburg.  Following Hans-Peter Haller, André Richard and Detlef Heusinger, the Experimentalstudio has been directed by Joachim Haas since 2022 and has garnered numerous awards.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 5 September 1990 in a program of works by Halffter, Nono, and Boulez

May 2026