The annual music festival FRAU* MUSICA NOVA presents pioneering composers, performers and interpreters whose artistic language evokes a confrontation with the present and the contemporary. The focus is on an experimental approach to music and its interaction with media, performance and theatricality.
F*MN explores boundaries, continuously expanding the spectrum of transmedia productions, and advocates the overcoming of genre and gender boundaries. In addition, it stands for the opening up of the genre "contemporary music festival" into a candid platform of artistic encounter.
Germany's most tradition-steeped festival for female composers was founded in 1997 by music journalist Gisela Gronemeyer and pianist Deborah Richards. In 2013, composer Brigitta Muntendorf and Ensemble Garage took over the artistic direction and began to give the concert series a new look. Since 2020, F*MN has had a dual artistic leadership consisting of Brigitta Muntendorf and dramaturge and producer Beate Schüler. In 2023, Brigitta Muntendorf handed over the artistic direction to composer and sound director Lucia Kilger.
Since its inception, F*MN has been closely associated with Deutschlandfunk. All concerts are recorded, produced and broadcast with subsequent narration in the Deutschlandfunk programme. Furthermore, in cooperation with other festivals and institutions such as the Heroines of Sound Festival, the HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, the Taschenoper Festival Salzburg, the Theater im Revier, the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, F*MN is developing an important and pioneering network to promote the work of selected contemporary artists.