Splitter Orchester

The Splitter Orchester, founded in 2010, is a Berlin-based collection of internationally respected Composer-Performers which draws inspiration from many genres, most noticibly contemporary/improvised music. Splitter Orchester originates from the “Echtzeitmusik” scene, which emerged in Berlin in the mid-1990s – a locally based and globally networked experimental music scene and long-term platform for the exchange of artistic ideas. All members of the Splitter Orchester are simultaneously composers, interpreters and improvisers that collectively elude clear classification – an ensemble most comfortable in the creative borderland between composed and improvised music. They utilize a broad variety of extended techniques on traditional, electronic, and especially constructed/tailored instruments. The main focus in their artistic practice is the production of sound (as opposed to musical material) and on how to diffuse it in space. The collaborative nature of musical creation within a Composer-Performer context is integral – from the first sketch to the performance. Ten different nationalities are represented in the orchestra, although all members are based Berlin. Splitter Orchester is an example of how the contemporary music scene in an international context is changing and experimenting, especially in Berlin with newer forms of musical communication and presentation. Splitter Orchester is not a homogeneous body, but consists of a variety of autonomous and ultra-specialized musicians/composers who choose not to work in an institutionalized framework and put existing hierarchies in the music establishment in question. The whole group relies on each member equally and deliberately denies established leadership roles to create an experimental production field, which is process-oriented and, therefore, socially relevant in a broader sense. The long-term ongoing collective work processes of the orchestra utilises a wide range of improvisational and compositional approaches – analysing and contextualising specific methods and practices of composition and improvisation. Over five years of experimentation, the ensemble has developed an extraordinary artistic profile and specific group sound.