Since its first edition in 2019, “KNM CONTEMPORARIES – Music in the Making” understands music as an open, communicative, and social space, and features contemporary compositions presented through concerts and accompanying lectures. The series focuses on the music of the younger, international generation of composers and puts these artistic positions into dialogue with key voices in contemporary music.

For KNM CONTEMPORARIES — re.construction, Ensemble KNM Berlin partnered with Kyiv Contemporary Music Days to turn the spotlight on Ukrainian avant-gardes: One dating back to the 1960s when a group of young composers reinvented the idiom of Ukrainian classical music by enriching it with contemporary ideas from beyond the Iron Curtain; Another unfolding right now with several generations of composers formed in independent Ukraine and reconstructing the historical ties between Ukrainian music and the European and larger Western space where it has always belonged.

KNM CONTEMPORARIES — re.construction will consist of three parts. Part I, the SignsGames workshops for families of displaced Ukrainians with children aim to help overcome the psychological effects of the Russian full-scale invasion with the help of music. Part II, “The Influences of ‘68” concert in Radialsystem connects the year 2014, the high point of the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, to the social upheavals of 1968, which contributed significantly to democratization in Western Europe. Part III will consist of a concert at FAHRBEREITSCHAFT featuring newly commissioned works by Albert Saprykin, Alexey Shmurak, Renata Sokachyk, and Alla Zagaykevych and the opening of the exhibition Listening to Four Composers.

SignsGames workshops for families of displaced Ukrainians with children aim to help overcome the psychological effects of the Russian full-scale invasion with the help of music. More →

The “The Influences of ‘68” concert in Radialsystem explores music by composers of the Kyiv Avant-garde along with works by contemporary composers from Ukraine, Korea, Taiwan, and the UK. More →

Concert at FAHRBEREITSCHAFT featuring commissioned works by Ukrainian composers, exhibition opening, and a get-together. More →