It was in the last century, Recherche violinist Melise Mellinger recounts, when her first encounter with Wolfgang Rihm took place. “He came to our then rehearsal room, and I was deeply impressed by this personality.” Over time, a friendly and very fruitful artistic relationship grew between the composer, who celebrates his 70th birthday in 2022, and Ensemble Recherche. “He always had great confidence in us, never criticized much, and always just emphasized what would be important to him and his ear,” says Melise Mellinger regarding the collaborations that resulted in numerous performances and several CD recordings. Recherche congratulates the Karlsruhe composer with two concerts: Kolchis, Pol and Blick auf Kolchis will be performed together with the Institute for New Music of the Freiburg University of Music. Rihm students Rebecca Saunders, Markus Hechtle and Kathrin Denner and a world premiere by Freiburg student Da Eun Jun round off the program. The second concert is dedicated to Rihm’s chamber music, more precisely: “Chiffre IV”, “von weit”, “Über die Linie IV” and the duo “Antlitz” for piano and violin. Melise Mellingers comments, “This is one of our classics – a very beautiful, very sensual piece that underscores the diversity in Rihm’s complex oeuvre.”