In the large hall of the washing room at PACT Zollverein, metallic frames hang in the dark stage in the background. Only occasionally brought into view by dim light from the darkness, mysterious objects appear within: figures like in a music box, a wooden arm, a bouquet of flowers, a typewriter, a bust. When light falls on the things, they begin to move as if by the hand of a ghost. A wax head melts away under a heat lamp. The mysterious life of things in Essen is not part of a dance performance but of the concert "Situations". Since 2011, the ensemble has been holding Monday concerts in its own studio in Cologne, and for a year now, the musicians have been guests in Essen the Sunday before.
Founded in 1990, the ensemble is unique in many ways. It is one of the leading specialists for contemporary music worldwide. Its area of expertise: world premieres and close collaboration with composers. For example, with Mauricio Kagel. Or Karlheinz Stockhausen, whose two of the most important world premieres were performed posthumously by the ensemble: "Klang – The 24 Hours of the Day" and the first staged realization of "SONNTAG aus LICHT". From the younger generation of composers, Enno Poppe in particular works repeatedly with the ensemble.
The ensemble Musikfabrik has its premises in the Cologne Mediapark. As a regional ensemble, it receives funding that only covers the costs for the infrastructure. The 15 musicians are unlike those in municipal orchestras not permanently employed and live solely from the performance fees. Only those who truly believe in music and the extraordinary significance of the ensemble choose such a rather uncertain living situation.
What is unusual is that decisions in the ensemble are made in a grassroots democratic manner. Although there is an elected three-member board and an artistic director, central decisions are made in the plenary. The high degree of organizational as well as artistic responsibility is clearly reflected in the Cologne Monday and Essen Sunday concerts, whose programs are each curated by a member of the ensemble. For example, the program "Grenzgänge" was created by the violinist Hannah Weirich. Her starting point was the sonata for violin and piano that Maurice Ravel composed between 1923 and 1927. A central work where she discovered traces to songs by Schubert, but also to the piece "Nebensonnen" by Lisa Streich from 2015. This was complemented by a new composition by Eivind Buene.
But why is the ensemble specifically a guest at PACT? Its name acronym, after all, rather awkwardly stands for "Performing Arts Choreographic Center NRW Dance Landscape Ruhr" – music does not actually belong to the core business. It is the experimental nature that leads the musicians to Essen. Not all concerts are as elaborate as at the "Situations," which was curated by the double bassist Florentine Ginot. But all concerts go far beyond pure instrumentation; multi-mediality and performance are always included.
The performative aspect is indeed part of the DNA of the ensemble. The close connection with the works of Mauricio Kagel alone suggests this. Like hardly anyone else, the native Argentinian, who taught in Cologne from 1969 and helped shape the city's reputation as a metropolis of new music, sought to expand musical forms. The development of "instrumental theater" can be attributed to him to a great extent. The gestures and facial expressions of the musicians, movements and relationships in space, as well as actions in which the acoustic result is just as important as its production, became a trademark. As in "Match for Three Players" from 1964, where two cellos face each other like on a tennis court and hit balls back and forth, while the percussion takes on the role of the referee.
