A concert in which the newest music is presented in all its diversity. A worthy end to a festival jam-packed with the latest sounds, many of them never before heard.

Finnish composer Sebastiaan Hilli won the 2018 Gaudeamus Award, an incentive prize for young music pioneers. The jury praised him for his distinctly personal brand of aesthetics, a style in which he manages to combine subtle acoustic details with audacious structures. Winning the Award gave Hilli the chance, and the budget, to write a new work. It is only natural that this new piece will be premiered during a Gaudeamus concert.
Yet another premiere was written by Gerhard Stäbler, a jury member for the Gaudeamus Award 2019. Stäbler is one of the most authoritative composers of his generation. His oeuvre is very multifaceted, ranging from solo works to large-scale multimedia projects and frequent dialogues with other art forms, such as dance. He likes to break traditional codes and is not afraid to express his political views through his work.
In 2015 Christiaan Richter was commissioned by Gaudeamus to write We get requests, which according to the composer was inspired by his fascination with old vinyl records. The title is borrowed from an LP of the legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson’s, but not many jazz influences can be identified in the composition itself. By means of a combination of samples and live ensemble Richter evokes a fascinating soundscape.
Experimental composer Hugo Morales Murguía, awarded the Willem Pijper Prize in 2017, works with analogue, digital and electromechanical technologies. In On Floating Ground he employs a power generator, to which the musicians are connected. They thus become part of an electric power plant, a machine which produces current by means of mechanical motion and magnetism. Unexpected everyday objects serve as instruments, which the musicians play by electronic means.

Hugo Morales Murguía
On Floating Ground
Gerhard Stäbler
Vier Gravuren – commissioned by NRW Rundfunk, world première
Sebastian Hilli 
Bird – commissioned by Gaudeamus, world première
Christiaan Richter 
We get requests – commissioned by Gaudeamus