artists
Sophie Emilie Beha
Open and curious: networking musicians and scenes as a curator.
“I want to connect artists and scenes, to network and to give a platform to so far unknown musicians in Cologne.” Born in 1997 in Tübingen, Sophie Emilie Beha will be the first programmer among the NICA Artists in 2022. She studied music journalism and works as an author and moderator for several public broadcasters. Texts by her regularly appear in various music journals and online magazines. In 2022 she was nominated for the German Jazz Journalism Award.
Beha’s work is characterized by openness, curiosity and the desire to network. This is also true of her work as curator and organizer of the guterstoff Festival in Cologne, which has been creating a platform for experimental music and performance since 2021. Making scenes accessible, bringing them together and connecting artists from different disciplines is important to Beha. Her focus is on jazz and contemporary music. As well as interdisciplinary, transtraditional and decolonial projects. In her most recent work, she explored postcolonialism in contemporary music. “I want to create events that address these points and are accessible to a diverse group of people, including an established scene audience as well as people interested in the arts who have been primarily focused on a unique genre of music.”
Sophie Emilie Beha’s vita and the stations on it, are evidence of her thirst for discovery. Her studies in Dortmund and Budapest were followed not only by her work as a multimedia music journalist and curator. As a dramaturge for the Berlin-based singer collective PHØNIX16, she is currently developing projects that deal with urban action art, conspiracy theories, ceremonies, experiences in transition spaces and femininity. She is also an active member of the experimental vocal ensemble Γλωσσα.