Mauricio Kagel (1931 to 2008), born in Buenos Aires and resident in Cologne from 1957, was one of the most distinctive composers of the postwar avant-garde, and from the start his name was tied above all to music theatre, the genre where he had the greatest impact. He treated the concert situation itself as material, staging the effort, absurdity and ritual of performance. Besides these radical innovations he developed a highly personal absolute music, and his output is remarkable in range: stage and orchestral and chamber works for the most unusual instrumental combinations, but also film scores, radio plays and essays.