I can’t express how grateful I am to have received a commission from the Klangwerkstatt Berlin Festival für Neue Musik with the support of the ernst von siemens musikstiftung to compose a piece for ensemble progress to be premiered in November 2025.

I am now facing my first composition in nine months, in the midst of one of the biggest existential crises of my life, questioning the purpose of being a composer and the real possibilities of balancing my intellectual obsessions, creative ideas, and emotional needs with society’s structures of progress and economic stability. In this period of time I tried a life in Germany and recognised that sometimes dreams are not good advisers. I returned to Colombia with more uncertainty than ever and could not find in the concept of ‘liquid times’ a more attractive invitation to deepen my understanding of what a liquid modernity is and the highly demanding capacity of adaptation it requires to survive in the contemporary world.

ensemble progress is a project directed by Sylvia Hinz, and this work is especially dedicated to her. She has been a fundamental supporter in my career and a deep inspiration in the music making. The concept and title of the piece was her initiative and I hope to make it justice with my compositional approach.