Lauren Siess, recipient of the 2024 Busoni Förderpreis, is a composer, violist, and improviser. Her work explores “imagined ecosystems” and organic processes. Recent projects have included works for ensemble mosaik and Alexey Potapov, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Arditti Quartet, and Ensemblefür Experimental Musik “Unfeed Format” Köln. As a composer/improviser, her work flows between concert music and interdisciplinary work, often involving self made or manipulated instruments. As an improviser, Siess performs on viola and no-input mixer, often in addition to amplified objects. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance (2019) from the Juilliard School, attending on a Kovner Fellowship, and her Masters in Composition from the Hochschule für Musik Dresden (2025). Over the past several years, she has studied with Stefan Prins, Manos Tsangaris, Mark Andre, Sivan Cohen-Elias, and Hannes Seidl.
“I had heard wonderful things about Künstlerdorf from colleagues. I was looking for a creatively nourishing environment where I could throw myself into my work while connecting with other artists. I feel so lucky to be in an interdisciplinary environment, engaging with other practices and people together in this beautiful location. During my residency, I will be developing three works – a new, re-imagined version of my 2020 piece, “cephalopoda,” for ensemble mosaik, a chamber orchestra work for the Antiphon Orchestra, and a new work for electric guitarist Ruben Mattia Santorsa and double bassist Rebecca Lawrence.”