In the 46th episode of Vortex Temporum, Swedish composer Malin Bång (Sävedalen, 1974) explores the identity and potential of acoustic objects in contemporary music, arguing that any physical item, from drainage pipes to household boxes, can transcend its utilitarian function to become a musical instrument.
Through the lenses of "sound ecology" and the philosophy of "vibrant matter," Bång suggests that using these objects not only preserves neglected sounds but also challenges the hierarchy between humans and the inanimate, transforming our perception of everyday life into a continuous musical experience.
A founding member, resident composer and co-artistic director of Curious Chamber Players, Malin Bång is also a senior lecturer at the composition department at Göteborg Academy of Music and Drama.

credits:
Jasmonate [2017], for septet | Curious Chamber Players // underpassing [2017/18], for 3 performers // Arching [2013], for cello and amplified objects | UmeDuo // inuti [2023], for quintet

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A few days before ars ad hoc presents the Portuguese premiere of his String Quartet 2.5 "Playing with Seeds" [2017] at the Serralves Museum, American composer George E. Lewis  (Chicago, 1952) shares some reflections on his long-standing fascination with the classical trope of depiction in American music. A professor in Columbia University’s Department of Music and the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Lewis is also the Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, as well as co-editor and co-author of "Composing While Black: Afrodiasporic New Music Today." While pondering the question, “If we get what we want, what will it sound like?”, Lewis has been creating a series of musical meditations on the sound of decolonisation. Can music function as sociological research? Well, why not?

credits:
Weathering [2023], for symphonic orchestra | American Composers Orchestra; Vimbayi Kaziboni > conductor

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As listeners will soon notice, Portuguese composer Luís Salgueiro (1993) moves with ease between philosophy and music — two territories that, in his work, often mirror one another. In this episode, we join him in a quiet exploration of how thought becomes sound and how language shapes what we hear, while listening to a few fleeting excerpts from his own music.
Do we still have the courage to speak about music?

credits: Parroting [2025], soundscape // Wolf Town [2020], for saxophone quartet | Quatuor de saxophones Quasar // Expeletives censored with snippets from
mir nichts, dir nichts [2024–5], for small ensemble | ars ad hoc

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After the summer break, we return with composer Ludger Brümmer (Werne, 1958) as the guest of the first episode of the 2025/26 season. Like many composers, Brümmer cannot resist speaking about music — yet he does so in a uniquely compelling way. The former director of ZKM shares insights into his approach to sound: the role of structure and intuition, space as narrative and as a field for exploration, as well as the possibilities of physical modelling. In this episode, we are invited to immerse ourselves in his sonic universe and the ideas that shape it

credits: La cloche sans vallees [1992], acousmatic composition // The gates of H. [1993], acousmatic composition // Spheres of Resonance [2015], acousmatic composition // Falling [2020], acousmatic composition // between twilight [2019], for 4 or 5 midi Pianos
Look @ CDs Sonic Patterns or Spheres of Resonance by WERGO / Spotify / AppleMusic. 

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Among the many ways of categorising composers, one is to distinguish between those who like to follow the rules and those who have the impetus to question them. As far as we can tell from listening to his documentary “dumpsterdiving and food saving”, Alessandro Perini (1983) belongs to those who like to defy the rules. He is the author of the longest episode of this podcast, with which we end the season reflecting on a major problem of our time.

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A few days before the Portuguese premiere of Silvia Borzelli's (Rome, 1978) A Self-portrait (with Anatsui in the background) [2022], this Netherlands based Italian composer shares some insights on her own music, erosion, resistance and whatever comes before music.

credits: stalagma (Anna Politkovskaja in memoriam) [2007], for piano | Emanuele Torquati > piano // zattere [2013], for piano and stereo soundtrack | Vittoria Quartararo > piano // hyper-image [2020, rev. 2023], for piano concertante and 5 instruments | mdi ensemble // A Self-Portrait (with Anatsui in the background) [2022], for prepared piano | Paolo Gorini > piano

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Right before the release of the album “City Walk”,  in which Nuno Aroso and his ensemble (Clamat - colectivo variável) perform João Pedro Oliveira  (Lisbon, 1959) percussion music, Portuguese composer based in Santa Barbara - California, tells us about the universe from which his music arises.
Would it all be rock?

credits: In the House of the Glass King [2021], concerto for marimba, vibrafone, percussion ensemble and fixed media electronics | Clamat – Colectivo Variável; Nuno Aroso and Henrique Ramos as soloists// Vox Sum Vitae [2011], for vibraphone and fixed media electronics | Nuno Aroso > vibraphone // Broken Loops [2013], for 2 percussion players | Vitória do Bem and João Pedro Lourenço

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One of Sivan Cohen Elias’ (Jerusalem, 1976) major interests must be sound puppetry. In Vortex Temporum episode number 39, this Israeli composer lets us listen to a conversation she has with her husband and collaborator, Rey Hulme, about this central matter of her own music.

credits:
How to Make a Monster [2021], for a performer with objects and live electronics | performance by Winnie Huang // Escape Room [2024], for trio percussion | ensemble Line Upon Line Percussion // Whistle Town [2022], for 8 musicians, live electronics, and video | ensemble soundinitiative // .onion - short opera, for tenor, soprano, electric guitar, percussion, cello, string orchestra, and fixed media.

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In episode 38 of Vortex Temporum podcast, Sara Stevanović (Belgrade, 1998) reflects on Harry Lehmann's 'Ideologiemaschinen: Wie Cancel Culture funktioniert'. 

credits:
search: pink fingers fragile archives [2024]. live performance by Ensemble Recherche at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik festival 2024. 

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Swiss composer with roots in Trinidad and Tobago Jessie Cox (1995) reflects on what music can be beyond music. Isn’t it about existence after all ?

credits:
Invocation: Nebula, from When You're a Star [UT007]

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