Kollektiv UNRUHE is a Berlin-based collective of thirteen musicians from ten countries, driven by the conviction that collaboration is the future of artistic creation.
Founded in 2021, the group brings together composers, performers and improvisers from diverse backgrounds in contemporary music, experimental vocal art and classical performance practice. To date, Kollektiv UNRUHE has performed 44 world premieres by both composers from within and external to the collective. The collective has performed in 19 concerts at rainy days Luxembourg, impuls Graz, the Darmstadt Summer Courses, the Transparent Sound Festival Budapest and Klangwerkstatt Berlin in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, France and Hungary, amongst others.
UNRUHE has collaborated with composers such as Óscar Escudero, Beniamino Fiorini, Daphné Hejebri, Mert Moralı and Sara Stefanović and has offered workshops at the Landesjugendensemble Berlin, Musikakademie Rheinsberg and impuls Graz.
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The collective's democratic, non-hierarchical structure enables joint authorship and collective decision-making in all artistic processes – from conception and composition to performance and curation. Current productions including SPELL (the scenic collaborative composition by the collective, collaboration with director Ludmilla Mercier and guests, 2025), ANTIPODES (collaboration with Ensemble Orbis, 2024), NOT FOUND (collaborative composition by the collective, 2023), and Unruhige Köpfe (collaboration with videographers at 48 Stunden Neukölln, 2022) demonstrate the collective's interdisciplinary and collaborative approach.
In the 2024/25 season, the ensemble was the resident ensemble of the Musikakademie Rheinsberg. UNRUHE recently won a project grant from the Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung for a collaboration with composer-performer Bernat Pont Anglada as part of the JUNGE AKADEMIE, Academy of the Arts Berlin (2026). In addition, the collective has been accepted into the InSzene cycle (2026-2027, Podium Gegenwart | Deutscher Musikrat) and will receive structural funding from the Berlin Senate for 2026-2027.
In the coming years, Kollektiv UNRUHE intends to further deepen its artistic identity as a collective ensemble that develops new repertoire through joint authorship, experimentation and close collaboration with composers and artists from other disciplines. In the long term, Kollektiv UNRUHE sees itself as a platform where collective practice and individual artistic voices coexist.
With a clear vision for the future, the collective continues to explore collaborative, sustainable models of artistic cooperation in which experimental ensemble music can be developed with continuity, depth and impact.