Sidney Corbett was born in Chicago in 1960, the son of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, though he grew up without a religious upbringing. At the end of 1968 the family moved to Los Angeles, California, and from 1974 he began to learn the electric guitar and play in various bands – first blues and rock, later jazz fusion. In 1977, Corbett began writing his first original compositions, short piano pieces in quartal harmony. “For me, the guitar fret-board was a very small universe,” he once said in a SWR feature about his work, “the world is a much larger place.” This realization led him to study music, philosophy and composition at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and then at Yale University, where he earned his doctorate in 1989 with a thesis on Edgar Varèse’s “Hyperprism.” His teachers included Pauline Oliveros, Bernard Rands, Frederic Rzewski, Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, and Morton Subotnick. Personal encounters with Toru Takemitsu and John Cage also made a lasting impression on the young composer. From 1985 to 1988, he was also a member of György Ligeti’s composition class in Hamburg, certainly his most formative influence. Exceedingly strict, Ligeti demanded not only impeccable craftsmanship but also individuality and the constant questioning of all aspects of art.

Moritz Eggert was born in Heidelberg in 1965. After studies in Frankfurt, Munich and London he has expanded his compositional oeuvre constantly, with a special focus on musical theatre (19 operas so far), vocal and instrumental music as well as conceptual and performance works. His work is often exploring extremes, both in the exaggeration of aspects of the musical material and the physicality of the performers. Contrary to the typical image of “serious” academic music, his music often uses irony, parody or satire as the means to engage an audience, but also doesn’t shy away from emotionality or melody when needed. As a blogger (“Bad Blog of Musick”) and author he is a well-known critical voice in contemporary music, very often discussing current topics of cultural politics like #metoo, gender equality or the misuse of power in classical music. Among his best-known works are the cycle “Hämmerklavier” for piano solo and the song cycle “Neue Dichter Lieben”. Eggert is a pianist and has also appeared as a conductor, actor and singer on stage. His current projects include the opera production "Die letzte Verschwörung" (Volksoper Wien), which will premiere in March 2023 and new concertos for percussionist Konstantyn Napolov and violinist/violist Elisabeth Kufferath.

Alexander Keuk (*1971) ist a composer, singer, music journalist and moderator, based in Vienna and Dresden. In his early years, his education included singing, piano, bassoon and music theory. Later on, he studied composition at the university of music "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden with Hans-Jürgen Wenzel and Wilfried Krätzschmar. Keuk got several awards and was a fellow of the Musikfonds of the Deutscher Musikrat and the Kulturstiftung Sachsen. He is a member in several renowned choirs and a founder of the performing arts collective DEI FUNK WuK. His catalogue contains more than 70 compositions, vocal and for orchestra. Recently he had commissions by the MDR Sinfonieorchester and the Dresdner Kammerchor.

LIEDDUO KÖRBER-WONG – the German soprano Sophia Körber and Singaporean pianist Yun Qi Wong have been making music together since 2015, performing regularly at concerts and song recitals in Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and North-Rhine Westphalia. Their debut CD TABUMATOR was released in 2021, consisting solely of world premieres. This was celebrated in fono forum as a "strong artistic statement of the highest level". In 2023, the duo performed at the concert series "achtelton" in Hitzacker and were the opening act of the Musik 21 Festival in Hannover, where they gave the world premieres of works including those of Americ Goh as well as Michael Maria Ziffels. Both Körber and Wong are dedicated to shining the spotlight on works of European and Asian composers yet to be performed. They aim to make innovative Lied programmes which are socially relevant and current accessible to audiences.

With singular dedication and uncommon courage to break new ground, Irene Kurka has developed programs for soprano solo that embrace the whole performance space. Powerful and at the same time delicate, her clear voice rings out, at times projecting a majestic presence, but other times not shy to take risks by laying bear her voice’s touching fragility. In her lively interpretations, Irene Kurka is always experimenting and seeking new ways to present contemporary and classic music in concert. As an interpreter of new music, Irene Kurka is an internationally sought-after singer for concerts and stage productions. Numerous composers (such as Eggert, Corbett, Weeks, Muntendorf, Pisaro, Fox, Weeks, Vantzou, Seither, Beuger, Brass, Frey, and other) have written works for and dedicated to her, including works written for CD and radio productions. To date, she has sung over 320 world premieres.

Torsten Rasch was born in Dresden in 1965. He began taking piano lessons at the age of six and from 1974-82 was a member of Dresden’s renowned Kreuzchor, before going on to study composition and piano at the city’s Carl Maria von Weber University. In 1990 he emigrated to Japan and established himself as a successful composer for film and television. In 2002 Rasch received a commission from the Dresdner Sinfoniker. The resultant work – a 65-minute song cycle based on the music and lyrics of German industrial metal band Rammstein entitled Mein Herz brennt – premiered to great critical acclaim in Dresden and Berlin before being revived at the Helsinki Musica Nova Festival. A Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work (featuring René Pape, Katharina Thalbach and the Dresden Sinfoniker conducted by John Carewe) was awarded Best World Premiere Recording at the Echo Classical Awards in Munich. In 2006, Rasch was commissioned by London’s ICA to collaborate with the Pet Shop Boys on a soundtrack for the silent film Battleship Potemkin and a live, screened performance took place in London's Trafalgar Square. Meanwhile, interest in his music grew in Great Britain. Rasch’s Piano Trio, commissioned by the BBC for the 2006 Cheltenham Festival, received highly appreciative reviews whilst in May 2009 Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO introduced Mein Herz brennt to London. In 2009 the Two Moors Festival and pianist Andreas Haefliger commissioned two new works: a setting of Oskar Kokoschka's poem Die Traumenden Knaben for 'Pierrot' ensemble, and a String Quartet, inspired by a Fra Angelico painting, for the Kuss Quartet. Rasch’s first opera, Rotter, based on a play by East German dissident Thomas Brasch, was commissioned by Köln Opera and received its world premiere in February 2008. A short orchestral work, Excantare fruges was premiered by the Dresden Sinfoniker under Olari Elts the following September. The orchestral showpiece Wouivres was premiered by the Robert Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz under Frank Beermann, with critics remarking: ‘a piece bristling with movement, brilliance and gorgeous sound,’ ‘superlatively suited to show an orchestra in the very best light.’ The Duchess of Malfi, Rasch’s ground-breaking second opera, was premiered in London in 2010 by English National Opera and the experimental theatre group Punchdrunk. The performances sold out within hours, and contributed to ENO’s Audience Development award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011. The opera was revived by Chemnitz Opera in 2013. The song cycle Le Serpent Rouge, a BBC commission, premiered in 2010 by the soprano Yeree Suh and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under André de Ridder. Rasch was Composer in Residence at the 2011 Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival. Rasch’s music has enjoyed the advocacy of a number of distinguished performers in many of the world’s most respected halls. Baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton unveiled his dramatic scene for baritone and cello I see Phantoms at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2012 whilst 2014 saw …in der Hülse von Schnee… his striking choral settings of Holderlin being performed at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie by the RIAS Chamber Choir. In September 2012, Rasch’s Mendelssohn Lieder orchestrations were performed by Matthias Goerne and the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. In July 2014, A Foreign Field, a major commission from the Three Choirs Festival to mark the centenary of World War One was premiered by the Three Choirs Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra in Worcester Cathedral and was later broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The German premiere took place in Chemnitz in 2015. Die Formel, an ambitious interdisciplinary work for singers, actors and orchestra was premiered at Konzert Theater Bern in 2018. In 2019 the RIAS Kammerchor commissioned Seven, an an interpolation for the Schütz St Luke Passion for choir and solo cello, with a text by Helmut Krausser. In 2022 the Dresden Semperoper premiered Die andere Frau. The 100-minute work in 10 scenes, with a libretto by Krausser, is a retelling of the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, and was acclaimed by critics. 2025 sees the premiere of another stage work, commissoned by Theater Regensburg - Die wunderbaren Jahre, after the book by Reiner Kunze, which examines the everday life of young people in the GDR.

Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. She went on to Cambridge University, where her composition teacher was Robin Holloway; and in 1975 attended summer school at Tanglewood, where she worked with Gunther Schuller. After this she spent several years working in schools and adult education in rural southern England; followed by a period based in Scotland, teaching at Glasgow University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During this time she began to write a series of operas (including King Harald’s Saga, The Black Spider, A Night at the Chinese Opera, The Vanishing Bridegroom and Blond Eckbert) which have subsequently received many performances in the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. In collaboration with director Margaret Williams, Weir has created several opera films, including Scipio’s Dream, Hello Dolly, and Armida. ​ As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including Forest, Storm and We are Shadows) which were premiered by the orchestra’s then Music Director, Simon Rattle. She has been commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Music Untangled and Natural History) the Minnesota Orchestra (The Welcome Arrival of Rain) and the London Sinfonietta (Tiger under the Table); and has written concert works for some notable singers, including Jane Manning, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Alice Coote, Ailish Tynan and Ruby Hughes. She has composed Concertos for Piano (William Howard) and Oboe (Celia Craig). ​ In recent years, Judith Weir has considerably expanded her choral catalogue, with regular performance by choirs worldwide of music such as her Christmas carol Illuminare, Jerusalem written for Stephen Cleobury and the choir of King’s College Cambridge. As associate composer with the BBC Singers (2015-19) she completed two oratorios; In the Land of Uz, about the prophet Job; and blue hills beyond blue hills, to Zen-influenced verse by the Scottish poet Alan Spence. ​ Now based in London, she has had a long association with Spitalfields Music Festival; and has taught as a visiting professor at Princeton, Harvard and Cardiff universities. Honours for her work include the Critics’ Circle, South Bank Show, Ivor Novello and Elise L Stoeger awards, a CBE and The Queen’s Medal for Music. ​ In July 2014 Judith Weir was appointed to the 395-year old royal post of Master of the Queen’s Music, in succession to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Amongst her priorities in this role are the support of school music teachers, of amateur orchestras and choirs, and of rural festivals. In this role she has written music for national and royal occasions, including the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations and the UK’s official commemoration of the 1918 Armistice. She has also created new music for many community groups and schools, including Burntwood School Wandsworth, Aberdeen Art Gallery, St Mary’s Church Dover and Greenacre School, Barnsley. Judith Weir’s music has been widely recorded, particularly on the NMC and Delphian labels; and is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. (Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke)