TonArt Ensemble

TonArt Ensemble is a German contemporary music nonet (strings, woodwinds, electronics) founded in Hamburg in 1989. TonArt focuses on improvisation using graphic notations and interactive on-stage techniques with visual or prefabricated acoustic cues. Over the years, the ensemble experimented with spatial structures, toy instruments, and innovative genres like "improvised opera." Notable composers like Christian Wolff have commissioned new works for TonArt Ensemble.

The group performed with many renowned international musicians in Hamburg, including Anthony Braxton, Vinko Globokar, Malcolm Goldstein, Fred Frith, Keith Rowe, Peter Kowald, Evan Parker, Dieb13, and Wu Wei. TonArt Ensemble released several CD albums and appeared on Braxton's The Memory Collective on hat ART, with "Composition No. 151" recorded in February 1991 during 2nd Noiseburger Festival in Hamburg. (The group appeared as Creative Music Ensemble Hamburg on the release).

One of TonArt's side projects included the Tonart String Quartet "configuration" for smaller-scale chamber pieces.

TonArt Ensemble Members
Daria-Karmina Iossifova
Georgia Ch. Hoppe
Helmuth Neumann
Krischa Weber
Manfred Stahnke
Michael E. Haase
Nicola Kruse
Thomas Niese
Ulla Levens