Splitter Orchester + Trondheim Jazz Orchestra @ MaerzMusik

Musical Ethics Lab 6 brings together Splitter Orchester and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra on stage for the first time at this year's MaerzMusik in Berlin. Following a ten day working phase, the two orchestras fuse their improvisational skills to present a concert that blurs the lines between the two groups.

22.03.2024, 20:30 h
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin

More info and tickets here.

Out on 19/04/2024: splitter musik

Splitter Orchester is proud to announce the first ever release consisting solely of the ensemble's own music. The 3CD-album titled splitter musik will be out on Hyperdelia on 19/04/2024.

Also make sure to check out and follow our new page at bandcamp here.

Splitter Orchester @ studioboerne45

On the occasion of a rehearsal and working phase in Berlin's studioboerne45 recording studio, Splitter Orchester is opening the doors for a concert of improvised music.

Free admission, space limited! No registration - first come, first served.

March 24, 2023
20:00h
at studioboerne45, Börnestraße 43, 13086 Berlin-Weissensee

Splitter Orchester @ Uppercut Festival 2022

We are invited to Uppercut Festival in Bordeaux, taking place from October 20th to 22nd 2022. The festival is organized by Ensemble Un – and we couldn't be more happy that this encounter is finally happening after two years of delay and postponing.

Get your seatbelts fastened and see you in Bordeaux! All information here.

Splitter Orchester @ Meakusma Festival 2022

Coming up next: Splitter is playing two shows at nearly sold out Meakusma Festival 2022 in Eupen, Belgium.

September 3, 20:30h, Eupen Plaza
Steve Heather: Split-Tour (2022) for and with Splitter Orchester

September 4, 16:00h, Eupen Plaza
Splitter Orchester: collective improvisation

There are a few tickets still available here.
More info here.

(Musical) Improvisation and Ethics + Schrumpf!

Splitter Orchester is excited to be part of the three-year interdisciplinary, practice-oriented research project »(Musical) Improvisation and Ethics« conducted by members of the Doctoral School for Artistic Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at University of Graz, and the Department of Philosophy at the the University of Vienna. Find more information on the entire endeavour here.

Over the next three years, there will be a couple of working phases held in various cities, dubbed »Musical Ethics Labs«. The first one featuring Splitter is coming up in August in Berlin with concerts on August 26 and 27, please click here for more info.

Connected to these concerts, we are super happy to announce that we finally get to perform in an actual live setting as part of the Schrumpf! concerts. This was originally planned in 2020, but back then we had to switch to a digital version due to the pandemic. At Schrumpf!, Berlin ensembles present their current productions - in a family format. New art forms can be discovered, places explored, movements tried out, sounds listened to - and the entire family can join in! Schrumpf! Oktopus will happen on August 28 at Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Splitter Orchester + Mazen Kerbaj: SYNESTHESIA @ WABE

SYNESTHESIA is a live graphic score created and interpreted in real-time by Splitter Orchester. In this new concept, Mazen Kerbaj acts both as the conductor of the ensemble and the director of a movie in the making; the images he produces on his glass table are projected on a large screen for the audience, and on smaller screens for the musicians who use them as material and indications to be interpreted instantaneously. Splitter Orchester reacts to the images, and the conductor reacts to the music in return, each side feeding on the other with no defined hierarchy. The images do not illustrate the music, nor does the music accompany the images; they rather flow together in an organic way. The resulting experience is quite unique for the audience; they can literally see the sound and hear the images of a movie that is made in real-time on stage.

With Mazen Kerbaj and Splitter Orchester, SYNESTHESIA brings together two key protagonists of the Berlin contemporary improvisation scene. Both the musicians of the orchestra and Mazen Kerbaj bring their highly individual and specialized set of skills and aesthetic imprints. Splitter Orchester looks back on 10 years of collective improvisation experience and has already explored a wide variety of methods for shaping free improvisation in large groups in several collaborative projects. With Mazen Kerbaj's SYNESTHESIA, Splitter Orchester again enters uncharted territory and tries out an approach of graphic conducting for the first time.

Splitter Orchester + Mazen Kerbaj: Synesthesia
July 9 and 10 2022, 20:00h
WABE, Danziger Straße 101, 10405 Berlin

Splitter in »Sounding Fragilities«

»When leaving an intensive listening situation, the perception of the world has often changed, and you may have changed a little as well, at least temporarily«, writes Irene Lehmann about our lockdown project Code of Silence in her text »Regarding listening. On the theatricality of experimental listening situations« in the newly published »Sounding Fragilities«. The book is out now at Wolke Verlag - get it here.

Concert schedule 2022

We have a full concert schedule planned out for this year! Make sure to catch us at any of these occasions:

July 9 and 10 @ WABE, Berlin
Splitter Orchester + Mazen Kerbaj: Synesthesia
more info here

August 26 and 27 @ Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Splitter Orchester + Christopher Williams: Improvisation & Ethics 1
more info here

August 28 @ Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Schrumpf! Splitter: 🐙
more info here

September 3 and 4 @ Meakusma Festival, Eupen, Belgium
more info here

October 21 and 22 @ Uppercut Festival, Bordeaux, France
more info here

More information on the individual projects and shows to follow soon!

Changes

Splitter welcomes 2022 with some personal changes. After long years of working together, Liz Allbee, Boris Baltschun, Mario de Vega, Morten J. Olsen and Julia Reidy have decided to leave the group. Reasons for this were various and each one of the musicians had their very personal ones. Splitter Orchester is very sad to see them leave, but we are also grateful for the time spent and the music created together. Looking forward to meet again in new and unexpected constellations!

At the same time, we are super happy to announce three new members, who have decided to join the group from now on: no others than Sabine Ercklentz (trumpet), Emilio Gordoa (percussion/vibraphone) and Andrea Parkins (accordion/electronics). In addition, Roy Carroll will switch positions from behind the sound desk to the center of the orchestra pit. In future concerts, you can now hear Roy join forces with Splitter on an ever changing array of electroacoustic media.

Code of Silence in Positionen #129 / November 2021

During Code of Silence, Splitter was accompanied throughout the process by three writers: Friederike Kenneweg, Anneliese Ostertag and Irene Lehmann. They were invited to witness the entire rehearsal and working routine over the course of 7 pandemic (!) months and being given complete freedom regarding how to put their experiences and impressions into words.

We are very excited to find out together with everybody what texts came out of this. Their pieces will be published in Positionen's November issue 2021.

Videos: Code of Silence

Here it is, the final concert in the Code of Silence series. It was recorded on March 24th this year by Christina Voigt (video) and Roy Carroll (audio).

CODE OF SILENCE III/III

The second edition of our anniversary project, Code of Silence, happened on February 24th/25th at WABE in Berlin. Due to the pandemic, we could not have a live audience with us. Instead, we decided to record the concert and share the video with everyone.

Code of Silence II/III

New piece: Imagine Splitter

Social distancing is hard for everyone, but a real challenge if you are a 22-piece orchestra that builds its entire practice on coming together to make music. Over the last months of 2020, each member of the Splitter Orchester has recorded an individual track of their own. Not playing solo, but with the image of playing with the entire group in mind. »Imagine Splitter« is the result of all 22 tracks combined. There is no editing (or muting) involved. All the tracks run »open« from beginning to end and the recording was treated similarly as a live-recording of the orchestra.