Viktor Orri Árnason

Friederike Bernhardt

Matīss Čudars

Aftab Darvishi

Fjóla Evans

Ralph Heidel

Annamaria Kowalsky

Simon Popp

Philipp Rumsch

Theresa Zaremba

Carlos Cipa

Sophia Jani

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Dandelion Quintett GbR
Albrecht Dürer Str. 16
81543 München


Feet Become Ears is a group of composers and musicians that aims to create a new home in Germany for an international artist community to come together and celebrate composed music, giving audiences and artists a welcoming, subcultural space to enjoy. To support this approach for future concerts and festivals, get in touch via 

. We would of course also be immensly grateful to receive your donations to support our ideas.

Dandelion Quintett
IBAN: DE37 1001 1001 2628 6267 86
N26 BANK BERLIN

Dandelion Quintett

Kontai Ensemble

Sjaella

kulturreferat münchen 

BR Klassik

Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien

NEUSTART KULTUR


Photography by Charlotte Gisèle Chapuis, Tobias Friedauer, Hanno Dreyer, Santiago Loesslein Pulido, Frédéric Hermann (NEU Workshop)

“Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottom of your feet become ears,” 20th century American composer Pauline Oliveros wrote in one of her famed sonic meditations. By this, she asks us to listen in unconventional ways, taking a free and empowered approach to music making and experiencing.

This open-minded attitude inspires the work of Feet Become Ears, a group of millennial-aged composers and musicians based in Germany. Through a series of concerts, Feet Become Ears aims to build on ideas established by composers from the 20th century American avant-garde, like Oliveros, creating new avenues for mindful music-making amongst their and future generations.

Feet Become Ears is fostering a community for engaged listening by gathering an international group of like minded artists to explore the innovative past, present, and future of minimalist and postminimalist music, presenting both new commissions and old favorites. They’re uniting with the same goal in mind: To create a home in Central Europe for an international artist community to come together and celebrate notated music outside of academia, giving audiences and artists a welcoming, subcultural space to enjoy composed music.

Feet Become Ears will launch its contemporary chamber music series with four different programs in 2023. Each will take place twice - once in Munich at ZIRKA and once in Leipzig at die naTo. They’ll be presenting new works by composers including Viktor Orri Arnason, Frederike Bernhardt, Carlos Cipa, Matīss Čudars, Aftab Darvishi, Fjóla Evans, Ralph Heidel, Sophia Jani, Annamaria Kowalsky, Simon Popp, Philipp Rumsch, and Theresa Zaremba alongside pieces by venerated composers such as Laurie Anderson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, David Lang, Onuté Narbutaité, Caroline Shaw, Ann Southam and Pēteris Vasks.

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Teresa Allgaier

Miriam Hanika

Hildur Guðnadóttir: "From the other place" for open instrumentation
Pēteris Vasks: "Music for the fleeting birds" for woodwind quintet
Carlos Cipa: "Thumb" for woodwind quintet*
Ralph Heidel: "I promise" for woodwind quintet*
Aftab Darvishi: "Land of Lights" for woodwind quintet*
Simon Popp: "Odds In Favor" for woodwind quintet and drums*
Ann Southam: From "Glass Houses" No. 7 and No. 10 (arr. by Sophia Jani, Theresa Zaremba, Carlos Cipa) for mixed octet
*world premiere

Natalia Karaszewska (flute), Maximilian Strutynski (clarinet), Miriam Hanika (oboe), Dorothea Bender (french horn), Artūras Gelusevičius (bassoon), Teresa Allgaier (violin), Juri Kannheiser (violoncello), Simon Popp (drums), Marcel Morikawa (percussion)

Feet Become Ears opens their 2022-23 season with Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s meditative "From the Other Place", a short piece composed in 2014 that serves as the opening to three of the volumes, each time taking on a new sound. Continuing with Pēteris Vasks’ onomatopoeic landmark work "Music for the fleeting birds" for woodwind quintet. Then, four world premieres showcase the next generation of composers: Iranian composer Aftab Darvishi, whose works explore cultural boundaries between Western classical and Persian culture; genre-blending drummer Simon Popp and saxophonist Ralph Heidel, two artists who don’t usually work with notated scores, but who each were invited to write pieces for woodwind quintet, bringing a new voice to the instrumentation; and composer and Feet Become Ears Co-Founder Carlos Cipa, whose works blur lines between contemporary classical and pop. Also part of the program is 20th century Canadian composer Ann Southam’s "Glass Houses" No. 7 and No. 10, arranged for mixed octet. Southam’s work has often been overlooked, but here receives renewed attention and care. All pieces are performed by Dandelion Quintett — a Munich-based woodwind ensemble around Feet Become Ears Co-Founder and oboist Miriam Hanika that shares and celebrates the joy and virtuosity of contemporary chamber music — and guests.

Vol. 1

"The dark and the light and everything in between" for mixed quintet
Woodwind Quintet No.1 "Music as a mirror"*
New work for violin solo*
"Everybody was so young I & II" for alto flute, clarinet and violoncello
String Quartet No.1 "See, the grass is full of stars"
"Andrà" for piano*
*world premiere

Natalia Karaszewska (flute, alto flute), Maximilian Strutynski (clarinet), Miriam Hanika (oboe), Dorothea Bender (french horn), Artūras Gelusevičius (bassoon), Teresa Allgaier (violin), Kateryna Yemets (violin), Barbara Grahor (viola), Juri Kannheiser (violoncello), Damian Dalla Torre (bass clarinet), Sina Rumstadt (bass clarinet), Sophia Jani (piano), Carlos Cipa (piano)

Dandelion Quintett, Kontai Ensemble performing works by Sophia Jani

The second volume of Feet Become Ears’ inaugural season spotlights works by composer and Feet Become Ears Co-Founder Sophia Jani. The Munich- and Berlin-based artist’s poetic, minimalist music builds from lush, repeating melodies that blossom over time; her music can be heard in concert halls, films, and theater productions alike. At this concert, she presents pieces from her debut album Music as a mirror, which was released in February 2022 on the Neue Meister label and sparked the creation of Feet Become Ears, alongside a world premiere performance of a new work for solo violin to be released on Squama Recordings in summer 2023. All works are performed by the Munich-based woodwind ensemble Dandelion Quintett and the string-focused group Kontai Ensemble.

Vol. 2

Hildur Guðnadóttir: "From the other place" for open instrumentation
Onuté Narbutaité: "Just Strings And A Light Wind Above Them" for string quartet
Laurie Anderson: "Shutter Island" for string quartet
Ralph Heidel: "On that very day" for violin and violoncello*
Matīss Čudars: "Sway" for violin and violoncello*
Annamaria Kowalsky: "Hall of Mirrors" for violin and violoncello*
Friederike Bernhardt: "Locked in Syndrome" for violin and violoncello*
Theresa Zaremba: "Fleinvær" for amplified string quartet, double bass, effected harp, bass synthesizer*
Viktor Orri Árnason: "Presence" for flute, bassoon, string quartet, double bass, harp*
*world premiere

Teresa Allgaier (violin), Kateryna Yemets (violin), Barbara Grahor (viola), Juri Kannheiser (violoncello), Andris Meinig (double bass), Melis Çom (harp), Natalia Karaszewska (flute), Artūras Gelusevičius (bassoon)

Feet Become Ears’ third volume opens with a new version of composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s "From the Other Place", and continues with two pieces originally commissioned by the groundbreaking Kronos Quartet: Lithuanian composer Onuté Narbutaité’s "Just Strings And A Light Wind Above Them", which observes an empty landscape,and noted New York genre-blender Laurie Anderson’s "Shutter Island", a meditation on the experience of loss. Then, they present world premieres by an international group of young genre-blending composers: Latvian composer and guitarist Matīss Čudars; Icelandic composer, conductor, and producer Viktor Orri Árnason; Munich-based composer, producer, and Feet Become Ears Co-Founder Theresa Zaremba; Vienna-based composer Annamaria Kowalsky; Berlin-based composer and saxophonist Ralph Heidel and Leipzig-based composer Friederike Bernhardt. All works on the program are performed by the string-focused group Kontai Ensemble - a contemporary classical ensemble around violinist and Feet Become Ears Co-Founder Teresa Allgaier and cellist Juri Kannheiser that takes different shapes with every performance.

Vol. 3

Hildur Guðnadóttir: "From the other place" for open instrumentation
Caroline Shaw: "Limestone & Felt" for viola and violoncello
Sophia Jani: Sonnet VI - Go from me for vocal sextet, viola and violoncello*
Fjóla Evans: New work for vocal sextet*
Phillipp Rumsch: close - für vocal quartet, mezzosopran solo, clarinet and percussion*
David Lang: "Just" for two sopranos, alto, viola, violoncello and percussion
*world premiere

Franziska Eberhardt (soprano), Viola Blache (soprano), Marie Fenske (soprano), Marie Charlotte Seidel (mezzo soprano), Helene Erben (alto), Luisa Klose (alto), Viola Wasser (viola), Konstanze Pietschmann (violoncello), Maximilian Strutynski (clarinet), Philipp Scholz (percussion)

Feet Become Ears closes their season with one final iteration of composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s "From the Other Place", Bang on a Can Co-Founder David Lang’s "Just", which is based on the Old Testament’s Song of Songs, and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s "Limestone & Felt", a work that interweaves textures inspired by different types of surface. Furthermore, they present three world premieres by composer and Feet Become Ears Co-Founder Sophia Jani; Fjóla Evans, a Canadian and Icelandic composer whose works explore the physicality of sound; and Philipp Rumsch, a Leipzig-based composer, whose works mix avant-pop, contemporary classical, and improvised music. All works on the program are performed by critically acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal quintet Sjaella and guests.