Darmstadt at 80 Festival: Mivos Quartet plays Rebecca Saunders and Herbert Brün // GBSR Duo // Yaron Deutsch

A two-night mini-festival celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt’s groundbreaking Summer Course for New Music—the global meeting point for postwar experimentation, exchange, and creative risk. Night one features the celebrated Mivos Quartet, the New York City debut of GBSR Duo, and guitarist Yaron Deutsch. The festival will also include archival listening sessions and lectures exploring Darmstadt’s historic legacy and its living, evolving influence on today’s artistic practice. Additional details to be announced. Mivos Quartet Olivia De Prato violin William Overcash violin Victor Lowrie Tafoya viola Nathan Watts cello GBSR Duo George Barton percussion Siwan Rhys piano “Here was a rare immersion in modern classics.”—The New York Times on the 70th Anniversary celebration of Darmstadt, presented in 2016 at Roulette Organized by Nick Hallett and Zach Layton, curators of NYC’s Darmstadt: Classics of the Avant-Garde, together with Thomas Schäfer, director of the IMD, and George Lewis, Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, the festival bridges generations of experimental sound. Envisioned in partnership with a consortium including Roulette Intermedium, The New School, Fridman Gallery, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Mivos Quartet is devoted to performing works of contemporary composers and presenting diverse new music to international audiences. The quartet, founded in 2008, at the Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance program, commissions and premieres new repertoire for string quartet, and is dedicated to creative collaborations with a wide variety of artists. Mivos maintains an active international performance schedule, regularly appearing as ensemble-in-residence at festivals including June in Buffalo, Shanghai New Music Week, and Wien Modern. Mivos participates in many educational residencies at universities and summer festivals, working with young performers and composers to develop their skills. The quartet also runs two composition prizes to help discover and promote emerging composers in the US and abroad. Beyond these activities, Mivos is committed to collaborating with guest artists, exploring multimedia projects, and performing improvised music. The Mivos Quartet is Olivia De Prato, violin, William Overcash, violin, Victor Lowrie Tafoya, viola, and Nathan Watts, cello. Yaron Deutsch is an Israeli guitarist, improviser, and artistic director of Ensemble Nikel, which he co-founded in 2006 with saxophonist Gan Lev. Known for his work in contemporary and experimental music, Deutsch has collaborated extensively with leading composers including Michael Beil, Pierluigi Billone, Raphaël Cendo, Chaya Czernowin, Philippe Hurel, Stefan Prins, and Michael Wertmüller, premiering new works as both soloist and ensemble musician. A frequent guest performer with Klangforum Wien, he has also appeared with Ensemble musikFabrik, Ensemble Ictus, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and major European orchestras under conductors including Peter Eötvös and Zubin Mehta. Deutsch is regularly on the faculty of Darmstadt Summer Course. GBSR Duo Percussionist George Barton and pianist Siwan Rhys are one of the UK’s leading contemporary chamber ensembles, celebrated for fearless performances, ambitious commissions, and inventive collaborations. Their repertoire spans twentieth-century modernism, experimental music, and cross-genre projects, with programs featuring composers from Karlheinz Stockhausen and Galina Ustvolskaya to Brian Eno and Aphex Twin. The duo has premiered works by Eva-Maria Houben, Cassie Kinoshi, Linda Catlin Smith, and Oliver Leith. They are winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2025 Young Artist Award. GBSR has performed internationally with ensembles and artists including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Basel Sinfonietta, and Thomas Adès. In 2026, they serve as Artists in Residence at Kings Place. photo 1 by Damian Griffiths photo 2 by Marco Borggreve photo 3 by Amit Elkayam A two-night mini-festival celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt’s groundbreaking Summer Course for New Music—the global meeting point for postwar experimentation, exchange, and creative risk. Night one features the celebrated Mivos Quartet, the New York City debut of GBSR Duo, and guitarist Yaron Deutsch. The festival will also include archival listening sessions and lectures exploring Darmstadt’s historic legacy and its living, evolving influence on today’s artistic practice. Additional details to be announced. Mivos Quartet Olivia De Prato violin William Overcash violin Victor Lowrie Tafoya viola Nathan Watts cello GBSR Duo George Barton percussion Siwan Rhys piano “Here was a rare immersion in modern classics.”—The New York Times on the 70th Anniversary celebration of Darm