Widely acclaimed by audiences and media alike, Das Neue Ensemble / Musik für heute e.V. celebrated outstanding successes last year: The premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas's Parkmusik for four wind orchestras on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Großer Garten as part of Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen and the bike concert with Hannover Marketing Tourismus Gesellschaft are just two examples. Since more than thirty years, Das Neue Ensemble continues to set standards for presenting contemporary music, engaging ever new active participants and audience groups.

All the more regrettable and incomprehensible it is that the state of Lower Saxony has changed its funding policy at short notice. Only thanks to this reliable basic funding over a period of three years, we've been able to establish international quality and collaborations, as well as attract substantial third-party funding into our region.

All of a sudden, we lack the backbone of our work, jeopardizing top-quality performances and international networking. We are immensely grateful to the state capital Hannover, the Lower Saxony supporters and the private donors of the Friends of House Concerts Musik für heute, but only the combination of their support with multi-year state funding makes international commissions and collaborative projects like STERNKLANG possible.

This also questions Lower Saxony's image as Musikland: For decades, Das Neue Ensemble has selflessly collaborated with partners in its entire area and the Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) on developing funding structures for contemporary music. It has wholeheartedly dedicated its infrastructure, connections, networks and facilities to the Contemporary Music Network; it has initiated and founded festivals and series such as Musik 21 im NDR and Klangbrücken. It is simply incomprehensible why this successful collaboration is no longer being supported, thereby jeopardizing what has been achieved.