ensemble in transition
Contemporary music, Deaf poetry and Dance
About ensemble in transition
ensemble in transition is a professional ensemble for contemporary music, deaf poetry and dance that was founded in 2021 in Frankfurt am Main by flutist and ensemble member Désirée Hall. This hearing-deaf four artists ensemble develops unusual performance concepts and opens up new artistic spaces using transmedial dialogue. With the cooperation of young composers have been developed music performances that are equally suitable for hearing and deaf people. Contemporary music and the art form of deaf poetry are within this artistic concept catalyzed each. In their performances, strongly influenced by experimental music theater, the artists explore aesthetic language and aesthetic movement together by playing and reinterpreting at the same time. Movement follows music – but music also follows movement. These two forms of art are not longer separate entities, but affect each other. With its interdisciplinary and experimental approach, the ensemble operates at the intersection of performative practice, societal discourse and artistic research.
Désirée Hall
Flute and Project Director
Désirée Hall initiated ensemble in transition and founded the ensemble in 2021. She studied flute as well as opera and concert singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt. She completed her studies with the renowned Master’s programme in Specialized Musical Performance / Contemporary Music at the University of Music Basel. Concert tours have taken her to numerous festivals in Germany and abroad, including the Donaueschingen Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Festival of Young Artists Bayreuth and Tzlil Meudcan Festival in Tel Aviv.
Another focus of her work is the development and realization of artistic and performative concepts that connect art with societal questions and explore new forms of inclusive collaboration. She further developed this practice through the Master’s programme in Performative Arts in Social Fields at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and as a recipient of the HTA postgraduate fellowship for artistic research.
In 2023, she received the €50,000 arts and culture award The Power of the Arts for her artistic work.
Deaf poetry and dance
Kassandra Wedel is a freelance artist, dancer, choreographer, actress and performer. Deaf. Born in Hesse, she now lives in Munich. She studied Theatre Studies and Art Education at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and completed training as a hip-hop coach.
She regularly performs on stages throughout Germany and internationally. She has appeared in numerous theatre productions, including at Staatstheater Hannover, Münchner Kammerspiele and Stadttheater Fürth. She performed as the Fairy Queen and sign language soloist at Wuppertal Opera in “ASCHEMOND oder die FAIRYQUEEN”, as well as in “BEETHOVEN? Der Erlösende Fehler” (directed by Helmut Oehring, 2021, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn).
In 2020, she choreographed the BEATHoven WDR concert at the Cologne Philharmonie and won the Opus Klassik award in the category Music Video of the Year that same year. Kassandra Wedel has also appeared in numerous television productions, including ZDF’s Tatort. In 2024, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.
Kassandra Wedel loves to experiment and, in her own work, explores the interplay of sign language poetry, dance and visual music.
Maren Schwier
Soprano
Maren Schwier has been an ensemble member at Staatstheater Mainz since 2018 and performs a broad repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary music. She has appeared at festivals including the Musiktheaterfesttage Wien, SWR Festspiele, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, and Rheingau Musik Festival. She regularly collaborates with contemporary music ensembles, including blank space ensemble, Mutare Ensemble, ensemble handwerk, IEMA, and Ukho Ensemble Kyiv. Guest engagements have taken her to Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and Staatstheater Nürnberg, among others.
In 2025, she was nominated as Singer of the Year by the specialist magazine Opernwelt for her performance as Madeline Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher.
Larissa Nagel
Cello
Larissa Nagel works as a cello soloist and in a wide range of ensemble formations, developing new interdisciplinary concert formats spanning Baroque, jazz, and contemporary music.
With the Hannari Piano Trio, she won several first prizes at the trio’s debut in 2021. This was followed by performances at the Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well as at the opening of the 2025 season of the Grafenegg Festival. Her engagements have included performances with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.
She is also a regular guest with renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, and Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, performing with them at major concert venues in Germany and internationally.
