Rushes from a forthcoming film about international Summer courses for new music in Darmstadt, Germany. The school began in 1946 in one of many attempts to regenerate the city following WWII. Composers such as Messiaen, Varèse, Berio, Boulez, Cage, Stockhausen and Xenakis taught on the courses over the years and the impact of the summer school on the new music scene is incredibly powerful as a result.
The artists David Ryan and Andrew Chesher have visited the school, interviewed young composers attending and explored the archives. The result is a film that captures the intense creative focus the courses inspire and also investigates and questions the relationship between creative processes in the past and present. It includes documentation of live performances, interviews with Pierre Boulez, Brian Ferneyhough, young composers on recent courses and distinguished performers such as the Arditti String Quartet, as well as archival footage.