Barbara Maurer

Cologne Viola Book

'In 2012, 1024, and 2016 under the title ‘Viola Project,' I invited violists and composers to the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln [College for Music and Dance in Cologne] with the objective: ‘Be there when it is composed! Be there when it is rehearsed!' Composers write for violists - and violists can influence this. The old hierarchy ‘superordinate composer' and ‘subordinate performer' are increasingly giving way to a new partnership in which composers and performers recognize that they need each other and work towards the same goal in mutual respect and exchange. This partnership was used and practiced in the viola project. Sometimes I got hot all over when together we tried out one draft after another. Whether then that can go well? Just as young composers composing ‘before witnesses,' we violists sight read and tried out their ideas, sketches, music.'
(Barbara Maurer)