The 21-member soloist ensemble Collegium Novum Zürich was founded in 1993 and has since become an integral part of Zurich’s music scene. It has premiered over 250 works and has a broad repertoire of works from the 20th and 21st centuries. Its productions range from large-scale chamber music and solo concerts to music theatre and interdisciplinary works and site-specific performances. The ensemble has been conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, Lin Liao, Susanna Mälkki, Emilio Pomarico, Jonathan Stockhammer and Zoi Tsokanou among others.
The Collegium Novum performs an annual concert cycle in Zurich and has made guest appearances at renowned festivals such as MaerzMusik Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Wien Modern, Warsaw Autumn etc.
In the 2025/26 season, Collegium Novum Zürich will premiere new works by the Swiss based composers Asia Ahmetjanova, Jannik Giger, Svetlana Maraš, Naomi Pinnock and Gérard Zinsstag.
Asia Ahmetjanova
Asia Ahmetjanova (born in Riga) is a composer, pianist, and performer based in Zurich. Her work moves at the intersection of contemporary music, performance, and installation-based formats. At the heart of her artistic practice is the concept of musical sculpture: compositions that are not only audible, but also visually, physically, and spatially perceptible.
On 2 July 2026, Collegium Novum Zurich will premier her new work ‘Do Sechseläutenplatz Yourself‘ in Zurich.
Jannik Giger
Jannik Giger is a Basel-based composer and video artist. He is active both in contemporary music as well as in the context of fine arts and media arts. A central focus of his work lies on the engagement with staging rituals in the art and music business. Recurring themes of his work are hierarchical relationships and interactions between author, interpreter, and the piece itself. His compositional signature is characterized by the organic integration of foreign material into his own sound language.
On 16 April 2026, Collegium Novum Zurich will premier his new work for video and ensemble in Zurich.
Svetlana Maraš
Svetlana Maraš is a composer and sound artist active in the field of experimental music. Her work encompasses a variety of formats such as live performance, electro-acoustic composition, sound installations and radio works. She is professor of Creative Music Technology and Co-head of the Electronic Studio at Hochschule für Musik FHNW Basel.
On 28 May 2026, Collegium Novum Zurich will premier her new work in Zurich.
Naomi Pinnock
Naomi Pinnock is a British composer based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Her catalogue of works focuses on concert pieces ranging from orchestral works to solo compositions.
On 11 January 2026, Collegium Novum Zurich will premier her new work for flute and harp in Zurich.
Gérard Zinsstag
Gérard Zinsstag is a composer and flutist, based alternately in Zurich and in Villeneuve-les-Avignon. Over the course of his rich career, he produced an extensive body of work as a composer. Together with Thomas Kessler, he also founded the first Swiss festival for contemporary music (Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, now named Sonic Matter).
On 30 October 2025, Collegium Novum Zurich will premier his new work ‘Quatre scènes’ in Zurich.
