Arne Sanders

„die klanglichkeit Ihrer signalLeeren hat poesie, den finsteren gesten und verspielten spuren der StilleZeichen hört man mit gespannter aufmerksamkeit zu.“

Hans-Joachim Hespos

Recently, his music has been significantly influenced by his engagement with non-European and folk music practices. One of his primary concerns is the multifaceted relationship between composition and improvisation and the resulting questions of notation. Alternative tuning systems and the significance of a pitch and its behaviour within a given (harmonic) context play a crucial role in his work.
Arne finds the varying expressive qualities ascribed to the very same tone across different hexachords in medieval music theory equally fascinating as the identification of pitches with seasons and cardinal points in Chinese music or the purposeful ordering of tones based on liturgical function in Nepalese temple music.

Visual art also serves as a source of inspiration. Arne has worked closely with prominent figures in the concrete art movement, adopting their working methods for his own artistic practice. He also often takes his musical inspiration from literature, apparent not only in his numerous vocal compositions but also in instrumental works like „Im Gebirg“ for sextet, which follows the structure of a story by Brigitte Kronauer, or “Musik und schöns Blümelein” that is based on an essay by the same author.

Arne’s music has been featured at various festivals, including Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Randspiele Zepernick, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg, as well as at concerts throughout Germany and Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

He has collaborated with soloists and ensembles, including Björn Lehmann, Nathan Plante, Ernst Surberg, Susanne Fröhlich, Trio Helix (Prague), oh-Ton-Ensemble, Modern Art Sextet, Ensemble Adapter, Stockholm Chamber Brass, Ensemble Apparat, Modern Ensemble (Seoul), Kwartludium (Warsaw), Göttinger Symphonieorchester.

He has been the recipient of several awards and scholarships.
Arne Sanders studied composition with Manfred Trojahn in Düsseldorf and Friedrich Goldmann at the University of the Arts Berlin. He completed his doctoral studies in 2018 at the University of Leeds, with a thesis on heterophony. Since 2018, he has been working as a lecturer in music theory, composition, and ear training at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Halle (Saale). In addition, he has been invited on occasions to serve as a guest lecturer at various universities and as a teacher at composition masterclasses. He has also authored texts on 20th and 21st century music.