re_cre@ 2026 FINALISTS
CONCERT PROGRAM
Verbrennung (2025) – Kostas Zisimopoulos
Amfibia (2025) – Kostas Zisimopoulos
This program presents two works by Kostas Zisimopoulos as a single, unified 30-minute performance. The performance fluctuates between freedom and structure where firstly, one element is structured, leading the direction of the form giving freedom to the other elements and vice versa. It is an attempt to bring together multiple dimensions of music including modern electronic and experimental music, contemporary classical music and improvisation.
The first piece, Verbrennung, was originally composed for voice and ensemble based on the final poems of Yorgos Zisimopoulos written for and premiered by Argo Kollektiv. This new iteration replaces the vocal line with live electronics, which interact fluidly with a strictly composed instrumental score.
The second piece, Amfibia, is conceived to be an extension of Verbrennung. It derives its name from the stylistic combination of the different parts. Electronics combine a wide range of styles ranging from modern electronic music to contemporary experimental music. At this part of the performance the electronics have the structured part where upon a prerecorded fixed media tape the instrumentalists have a more flexible improvised part providing them with more freedom.
Argo Kollektiv
Argo Kollektiv was founded in 2023 by Panos Nikitaris (piano), Juan Moreda (saxophone), Taikan Yamasaki (percussion) and Youngseo Kim (violin) within the Master’s program Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). Since its foundation, the ensemble has expanded rapidly, collaborating with a growing network of musicians, and today brings together violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone, piano, percussion, soprano, sound engineer, conductor, and two composers.
This versatility allows Argo to operate both as a chamber music formation and as a larger ensemble. A central focus of Argo Kollektiv lies in its close collaboration with emerging composers, particularly from the Austrian scene, fostering the development of new repertoires for contemporary music.
The ensemble also engages in the exploration of innovative concert formats, including inter- and transdisciplinary projects with electronic music, visual arts, dance, and improvisation. 2023 marked their debut year with performances at the Wiener Meisterkurse faculty concert and the Schiermonnikoog Festival, as well as their own production Der Anfang des Mythos at Brick-15 in Vienna. In 2024, the ensemble curated its first concert series Wiener Avantgarde-Klänge, presenting both contemporary repertoire and commissioned works, while also appearing at Suena Festival, KlangBildKlang, Another Festival, and making their debut at Wien Modern and at the Musikverein Wien.
In 2025, Argo gave its first concert abroad at the House of Music Hungary, marking the beginning of their international career. Also some highlightprojects include their participation in the Komposition Werkstatt at Alte Schmiede (Vienna, 24th October 2025), featuring new works by Kostas Zisimopoulos, Afamia Al-Dayaa, and Miguel Segura, with a line-up of saxophone, piano, percussion, and voice. On 17th October 2025, the ensemble appeared at Porgy & Bess (Vienna) as part of the ACOM (Austrian Composers Association) series with a program for saxophone, piano, and violin. In January 2026, Argo will be featured in the Next Generation Series of the Transparent Sound New Music Festival in Budapest, presenting a program of recent Austrian and international compositions.
Further ahead, the ensemble will continue its collaboration with ACOM Argo Kollektiv – Ensemble für Neue Musik through a Call for Scores concert at Alte Schmiede (Vienna, 8th April 2026), and will appear at the 2026 edition of the Suena Festival (Vienna, 11th May 2026), presenting new pieces by Félix Ibarrondo, Antonio Hasbún González, and Joao Pinto, receiving the scholarship from Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.
They recently published their first digital album called “why is that rain?” with music by Mata Gentilucci, Sergej Newski, and Yuheng Chen. Argo Kollektiv has been recognized with the 2nd Prize at the 3rd Competition of the Leonard Bernstein Institute (MDW) and the 2nd Prize at the Osaka International Music Competition. With its commitment to new music, close collaboration with composers, and expanding international presence, Argo Kollektiv is establishing itself as one of the most promising young ensembles for contemporary music in Austria and beyond.
Lítore Quartet
Lítore Quartet was founded in 2019 at the Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears (CSMIB), with the support of professors Beatriz Tirado and Xabier Casal. Based in Mallorca, the ensemble is formed by Jaime Estévez (soprano saxophone), Sira Pellicer (alto saxophone), Hugo Lomba (tenor saxophone) and Miquel Flores (baritone saxophone).
The ensemble’s main objective is the promotion of contemporary music through close and sustained collaboration with living composers. In recent years, Lítore Quartet has commissioned works by composers such as Mauricio Sotelo, Eduardo Soutullo, Salvador Brotons and Brais González, among others.
This central motivation is complemented by the group’s desire to engage and move audiences, as well as to explore new artistic formats, resulting in innovative projects such as the staged tale Selkie (2024). Interdisciplinarity is a core concept for the ensemble, as reflected in the project Beyond Music, created in 2021 in collaboration with physiotherapist and stage director Carles Expósito from Fisio Taddeo.
In recent years, the group has expanded its activity internationally. Alongside national awards such as First Prize at the Arnuero International Chamber Music Competition (Arnuero, 2022), First Prize at the Art Jove Young Performers Competition (Inca, 2022), First Prize at the Ciudad de Ávila Chamber Music Competition, and Second Prize and the Award for Best Performance of a Spanish Work at the Pedro Bote International Competition for Young Performers (Villafranca de los Barros, 2021), the quartet has received important international recognition, including First Prize unanimously at the Cap Ferret Music Open Competition (France, 2025) and an award from the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) as one of the three projects selected for the Café Bauhaus Programme 2025–2026.
They have also participated in numerous festivals such as the Ciclo de Música Actual de Badajoz (Extremadura, 2022), Creando Futuros: Centro Botín (Santander, 2023) and Zürich SaxFest (Zurich, 2024).
The ensemble was artist-in-residence in the Red de Músicas programme of Juventudes Musicales de España during the 2023–2024 season and a scholarship holder at the JM Deutschland International Chamber Music Campus (Weikersheim, 2024). Lítore Quartet has also served as a jury member for the Art Jove competition in the chamber music category (Mallorca, 2024). Currently, Lítore Quartet maintains an active schedule of concerts, projects and teaching activities in the field of chamber music.
CONCERT PROGRAM
Fragments Striés (2004) – Hèctor Parra (*1976)
Fantasy Etudes for saxophone quartet (1993-94) – William Albright (1944-1998):
Etude No. 2 Pypes | Etude No. 4 Phantom Galop
Der blutige Schaffner (1996) – Robin Hoffmann (*1970) – *Versió Fukio Quartet
This program explores how non-musical elements—objects, artifacts, phenomena, or images—are transformed into music, not merely as external references but as creative and structural driving forces within the compositional discourse. The selected works take human-made creations outside the musical language as their point of departure and turn them into autonomous sonic worlds, rich in symbolic meaning.
In Fragments Striés by Hèctor Parra, extramusical inspiration is translated into a fragmentary and visual conception of sound, in which texture and contrast evoke reflections and perceptions rather than literal representations. The work is inspired by the pictorial creations of Pierre Soulages, from which reflections of light emerge through black backgrounds and ruptured textures.
The Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet by William Albright draw on everyday objects and sonic gestures: Pypes explores the sound of air moving through tubes and ducts, inspired by the bagpipe, while Phantom Galop evokes the mechanical and persistent motion of urban transportation.
Meanwhile, Der blutige Schaffner by Robin Hoffmann introduces a narrative and dramatic dimension, using the train as a symbolic artifact to articulate tension, violence, and movement.
Thus, the program proposes a journey from the real object to the symbol. Through different aesthetic approaches, the works engage in a dialogue around the capacity of contemporary music to recreate, reinterpret, and re-signify the extramusical world, transforming it into a sonic experience.
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