A more modern and exciting form of chamber music is hardly imaginable.
– Tagesspiegel
Tonhain Kollektiv e.V. is a group of visionary musicians dedicated to reinventing Berlin’s classical music scene. With a permanent residency at Tonhain, an intimate new concert hall in Berlin-Steglitz, the collective presents season-based programming that sparks dialogue around the most salient artistic and societal issues of our time. Central to its mission is a strong commitment to contemporary music, works by underrepresented BIPOC and FLINTA* composers, and rarely performed works from earlier repertoire.
Founded in 2023, Tonhain Kollektiv has since presented more than 75 concerts and events in Berlin and on tour, including appearances at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Zürich Chamber Music Society, and in Paris with M Sphère. Following its introductory Season 0: Roots, Season 1: Machine Counterpoint examined music’s evolving relationship with technology, culminating in an interdisciplinary evening with AI expert Carsten Ullrich that compared human- and AI-composed music. The season also featured the German premiere of groundbreaking British composer Ben Nobuto’s SERENITY 2.0.
Season 2: RESIST! – The Sound of Defiance is dedicated to the victims of authoritarianism, armed conflict, undemocratic regimes, and social injustice. Its programming highlights artistic resistance in many forms, from political protest to expressions of personal identity, exile, and hope. Projects include a portrait of Luigi Nono’s artist-activism, a dialogue between Han Kang’s writing on the Gwangju Uprising and music by Isang Yun, and an interdisciplinary exploration of fashion and suffragism with acclaimed New York fashion designer Jenny Lai - all underscoring music’s enduring political power.
Beyond its concert seasons, Tonhain Kollektiv maintains a strong commitment to community engagement. This includes an ongoing collaboration with the Bezirksamt Steglitz-Zehlendorf on the children’s theatre production Der Stieglitz von Steglitz by Christoph Breidler, which has reached hundreds of young people across Berlin.
Tonhain Kollektiv is also actively engaged in commissioning and premiering new works, including a viola concerto by Jan Müller-Wieland, the German premiere of Emma O’Halloran’s hear and now for clarinet quintet, and a newly commissioned cello quartet by O’Halloran, to be premiered by Tonhain Kollektiv in 2027.
Tonhain Kollektiv’s work is supported, among others, by the Aventis Foundation, the District Office of Steglitz-Zehlendorf of Berlin, and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.