The Allianz Kulturstiftung has supported one of the first projects of the new Internationalen Ensemble Modern Akademie (IEMA) at the same time creating a qualification which is unparalled at the European level. As especially for young composers it is often difficult for them to find their first job. They receive their training almost solely at the universities, where there is generally no opportunity for them to work together with professional ensembles.

The International Compositions Seminar of the IEMA aimed to rectify this discrepancy by enabling them to learn and work together in a professional, international context. At the beginning it had been the wish of the Ensemble Modern to pass on their own wealth of experience and give professional support to up-and-coming young talents as well as their interest in developing joint projects with the young international composer and conductor generation. At the same time the Academy served not only as a place for teaching and learning but mainly as a place for research, encounters, exchange and presentation to the general public.

Two blocks of the Seminar took place (in September 2006 and in February 2007). At the same time musical contents and approaches were analysed and conveyed against the background of aesthetic problems therefore in connection with standing composing techniques. This process should promote impulses for the creation of new forms of composition. Therefore starting from an interdisciplinary approach, besides the eight composers who had been invited from various countries, there had also been two conductors and two musicologists taking part who documented the creative process. The works were performed for the first time on February 17 and 18, 2007 in Frankfurt.