The Stuttgart Stirling Ensemble [SEnS], intiated by Christof M Löser, consists of students and teaching staff from the university. Since July 7, 2007, they have frequently performed demanding ensemble pieces taken from the last decade. Performances have taken place both inside and outside the Stirling building of the university.  

The Stirling ensemble is a melting pot for all the various ideas, tastes and styles taken from our professors, lecturers and students, which correspond to the ensemble’s name and also the pluralistic aesthetics of James Stirling’s architecture. The general environment is one of pulsing creativity as the university rubs shoulders with the State Gallery, situated next door, and the House of History which is also in the immediate vicinity. The purpose of this proximity is to produce an ensemble network from the new music studio within the university and to build upon a symbiotic relationship that radiates outwards.  

In addition to the old new music such as Alban Bergs chamber concert or Arnold Schönbergs Pierrot lunaire (with Anja Silja as the guest soloist) and 1. chamber symphony and new music - "classics“ like John Cage, Elliott Carter, Bo Nilsson, Harrison Birtwistle, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, Luigi Nono, Helmut Lachenmann – the Stirling ensemble also plays music from the younger composers, for example from: Carola Bauckholt, Andreas Dohmen, Dieter Mack, Michael Maierhof (such as at the founding concert and at the very successful guest concert performed for the Stuttgart State Gallery (next door to the university) to celebrate their jubilee in 2009), Ulrich Süße and many more. We also have the pleasure of enjoying original performances submitted by the composition students, and long may this tradition continue as a part of the Stirling programme. They usually include the organ, in particular our wonderful organist Prof. Bernhard Haas who plays as a soloist – whose performances include the foundation concert in Shin-Woong Kims Reflektierte Tropfen – or as part of the ensemble such as in N. Andrew Walshs Well of Cygnus, for which Prof. Bernhard Haas spent many hours hidden away inside the organ fine tuning the pipes.

Many of the teaching staff also partcipated: Prof. Angelika Luz (soprano) • Frank Wörner (bass baritone) • Antje Langkafel (flute) • Prof. Christian Schmitt (oboe) • Prof. Norbert Kaiser (clarinette) • Gunter Pönisch (clarinette) • Prof. Marc Engelhardt (Bassoon) • Prof. Christian Lampert (horn) • Bertram Schwarz (trumpet) • Prof. Henning Wiegräbe (trombone) • Prof. Marta Klimasara (percussion) • Prof. Klaus Dreher (percussion) • Jürgen Spitschka (percussion) • Prof. Cornelis Witthoefft (piano) • Prof. Florian Wiek (piano) • Prof. Bernhard Haas (organ) • Prof. Maria Stange (harp) • Tillmann Reinbeck (guitar) • Prof. Tim Vogler (violin) • Prof. Anke Dill (violin) • Emily Körner (violin) • Sabine Kraut (violin) • Prof. Andra Darzins (viola) • Prof. Conradin Brotbek (violoncello) • Olivier Marron (violoncello) • Prof. Caspar Johannes Walter (violoncello) • Prof. Matthias Weber (double bass) • Nina Valcheva (double bass) • Christof M Löser (direction).

An integral part of the Stirling ensemble concept is to include equal parts of students. To date, more than 50 student musicians and singers have participated. This is a fantastic opportunity for students of the New Music Masters degree and the New Music Profile Bachelors degree to gain first-class experience of playing and performing with an ensemble of this caliber.

One of the key principles of the Stirling ensemble is to ensure that: music originating from within the university as-well-as from renown and unknown external composers "something new and previously unheard“ (Robert Schumann 1848/49 to Manfred) is played both in the university itself and also externally.