Musicians
Ensemble 404
Founded in 2024 in Hamburg, Ensemble 404 is a contemporary music collective dedicated to experimental performance, electronics, and improvisation. Taking its name from the internet error code “404 Not Found,” the ensemble deliberately embraces an artistic identity that avoids fixed definitions, seeking instead to explore new sounds, extended techniques, and interdisciplinary paradigms.
Under the artistic direction of composer and researcher Oscar Corpo, the ensemble functions at the intersection of artistic practice and technological research. A central pillar of their work is the integration of an artificial intelligence system trained on the musicians’ specific playing styles, allowing for unique human-machine improvisation. Comprising students and alumni from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HfMT) Hamburg, the group has quickly established itself as a vital emerging force in Hamburg’s Neue Musik scene.
Ensemble 404 has maintained an active performance schedule, appearing at established venues and festivals including the Christianskirche Ottensen, the Helmut-Erdmann-Festival, and the Blurred Edges Festival. Most recently, the ensemble performed at Kampnagel for the renowned Klub Katarakt festival.
SPIIC+ Ensemble
Founded in 2018, the SPIIC+ project and ensemble operates under the leadership of Vlatko Kučan as part of the ligeti center’s Artistic Research Lab. The acronym stands for Social Performance, Interdisciplinary Improvisation & Creativity and has its roots in the field of Critical Improvisation Studies—and thus in the theoretical and practical exploration of improvisation—which is understood simultaneously as an artistic production practice, a form of social interaction, and a universal co-creative method. Based on the assumption that these aspects are intrinsically intertwined, SPIIC+ investigates artistic and social creativity as a holistic phenomenon that can only be understood in its multifaceted complexity through transdisciplinary artistic research.
The SPIIC+ Ensemble is an integral part of the project. Composed of students from various disciplines at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama (HfMT Hamburg), it serves both as a transdisciplinary collective, bringing together young musicians and performers from diverse disciplines, musical traditions, and global cultural backgrounds for creative exchange and collaboration. This is a crucial step in exploring and experiencing aspects of individual, social, and artistic-aesthetic individuality, diversity, solidarity, and mediation. Furthermore, the SPIIC+ Ensemble is also a concrete artistic and social instrument through which the various specific SPIIC+ projects and productions are realized. The SPIIC+ Ensemble has been involved in numerous projects, concerts, and festivals. It has received international acclaim for its performances at the “Bauforum Magistralen” (Hamburg, 2019), “TENOR 2021 – International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation” (Hamburg, 2021) and “WAC2022 – International Web Audio Conference” (2022, Cannes), where the SPIIC+ Ensemble performed the highly acclaimed closing concerts.
At ICMC HAMBURG 2026, the SPIIC+ Ensemble will be represented by:
- Myrsini Bekakou (GR) – violin
- Carmen Kleykens Vidal (ES) – cello
- Thembinkosi Mavimbela (ZA) – double bass
- Sebastian Sarre (USA) – trumpet
- Jeanne Lavalle (FR) – bassoon
- Vlatko Kučan (DE) – clarinets
Asya Fateyeva
Asya Fateyeva is one of today’s most exciting classical saxophonists, celebrated for her artistry, versatility, and fresh approach to the instrument. Born in Crimea, she captivates audiences with programs that span centuries and genres—from Baroque and Classical to Romantic and contemporary music, jazz, and world music. Her playing combines technical brilliance, emotional depth, and a distinctive, instantly recognizable sound.
She first drew international attention in 2014, making history as the first woman to reach the finals of the prestigious International Adolphe Sax Competition in Belgium, where she won third prize. Since then, she has been a trailblazer in establishing the saxophone as a prominent voice in the classical world.
Her career has taken her to some of the world’s most prestigious stages and festivals. She has appeared with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Vienna Symphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Ensemble Resonanz, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Munich Symphonics, and MDR Symphony
Orchestra. She has collaborated with renowned conductors including Robin Ticciati, Bar Avni, Nil Venditti, Vladimir Spivakov, Joseph Bastian, Dirk Kaftan, and Michael Sanderling, performing in iconic venues like the Vienna Musikverein and at major festivals including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lucerne.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include her return to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and debuts with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna at the Brucknerhaus Linz, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and the Staatsorchester Darmstadt. She continues her collaboration with Lautten Compagney Berlin, with whom she released her second CD, Dancing Queen, featuring music by ABBA and Rameau, awarded the Opus Klassik in 2025. Her upcoming CD, Nutcracker Unwrapped—a new take on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker arranged by Wolf Kerschek—will be released in autumn 2025. She also returns to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where she was a resident artist in 2024.
Alongside her solo work, Fateyeva is deeply committed to chamber music. She creates inventive programs, including arrangements of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for cello, accordion, and saxophone, music of the 1920s, and cross-genre projects blending jazz and world music. Her wide-ranging curiosity and openness make her a truly cosmopolitan artist, integrating diverse influences into her music.
Fateyeva began her studies as a young student at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Professor Daniel Gauthier and further honed her craft in France with Claude Delangle (Paris) and Jean-Denis Michat (Lyon). She completed an advanced chamber music program at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
Today, she shares her expertise as a professor of classical saxophone at both the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and the Musikhochschule Lübeck.
John Eckhardt
John Eckhardt is a modern hunter-gatherer of all things bass. For nearly three decades, he has been constantly involved in the creation of today’s music, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary projects dedicated to themes of ecology, evolution and diversity. As an acoustic and electric bassist, he has developed a branching narrative of solo work, while Klangforum Wien and the Ensembles Modern, Musikfabrik and Resonanz are among his many frequent ensemble collaborators in compositional music. He premiered hundreds of new compositions and recorded on over 40 albums on labels such as Touch, Mode, Kairos, ACT and his own imprint, Depth of Field music. John Eckhardt performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, and worked with Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann, Evan Parker, Eric Schaefer, Peter Evans and Peter Brotzmann, as well as with an expansive field of the next generation’s new blood. He has published a series of internationally acclaimed solo releases as one of a kind art editions, and employs bass instruments to probe room acoustics, landscapes and histories in sound installations. Like his Basswald DJ podcast, his work under the monikers Fatwires and Forresta is dedicated to experimental sound system culture. In addition, his passion for photography has fed into his work as well. Next to frequent masterclasses, John Eckhardt is assistant professor of improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
Ensemble Resonanz
More info soon