M Sphère
©
Carte Blanche: Tonhain Kollektiv X M Sphère
Friday, January 16, 2026 at 06:00 PM
presented by
Tonhain Kollektiv e.V.
Description
This concert marks a special collaboration between Tonhain Kollektiv and M Sphère, a French collective inspired by Tonhain Kollektiv’s concept based in Paris. The program traces the evolution of the clarinet quintet across more than two centuries: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet (1789), written for his friend Anton Stadler, established the genre with its luminous interplay between soloist and strings; Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet (1891), composed in the twilight of his career, transforms Mozart’s model into a richly woven tapestry of late-Romantic introspection; and Emma O’Halloran’s Here and Now (2024) extends the lineage into the present, offering a meditative exploration of texture, breath, and time that reimagines the clarinet quintet for a contemporary ear.
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 ~35'
Emma O'Halloran: "Here and Now" for clarinet quintet (2024) ~15'

Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 ~35'
Artists
Tonhain Kollektiv
© Sander Stuart
Tonhain Kollektiv
Tonhain Kollektiv e.V. is a group of young, dynamic musicians who strive to reinvent the chamber music scene in Berlin. With their permanent residency at Tonhain, an intimate new concert hall in Steglitz, and their unique collective leadership structure, they aim to create an innovative center for chamber music that features Berlin-based musicians of the younger generations. In their roles as performer-organizers, they seek to build connections between their craft and a wide range of other fields. Through interdisciplinary concert formats, programming works relevant to contemporary society, and making use of the tools of the digital age while maintaining the highest artistic quality, Tonhain Kollektiv seeks to reach a younger and broader audience than the typical chamber music concert. They invite their audience to join them in exploring the many roles the arts play in society, the interconnections between music and other fields, and the unique opportunities and challenges musicians face in the 21st century.
M Sphère
©
M Sphère
M Sphere (Musique des Spheres) is a dynamic new chamber music collective based in Paris, designed to break down barriers geographically and figuratively. Our goal is to establish a platform where world renowned musicians from all over are invited to join French musicians and artists in a collaborative, fully immersive musical experience - an opportunity that does not exist on this scale. Ancient Philosophy Meets Modern Performance: Musique des Spheres is a philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies - the sun, moon, and planets as a form of music. The theory, originating in ancient Greece, was a tenet of Pythagoreanism, and was later developed by 16th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. Kepler did not believe this "music" to be audible, but felt that it could nevertheless be heard by the soul and later wrote a book called Harmonies of the World. M Sphere's concept invites audiences to explore music as both a sensory and a spiritual experience. The collective is a global initiative to bring international musicians and artists together in Paris and was conceived by artistic directors Arianna and Miclen, who were inspired by the writers of The Lost Generation that escaped to Paris in the 1920s. Many of the artists made their way from the United States just as Arianna and Miclen did many years ago. Gertrude Stein was at the head of the expatriate group and held a literary and artistic salon, introducing artists of all different forms. M Sphere will highlight a similar sense of community and cultural exchange where diverse influences come together in a creative space.
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Benjamin Lai