Room 5.22 is an experimental contemporary music and improvisation ensemble which existed between 2009 and 2011 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Composer Hugo Harmens was looking for fellow musicians for an improv ensemble at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Codarts). The ensemble went through different phases. Some musicians left, others joined in. Some stayed only for a short while, others were enthusiastically participating from beginning to end. In the very beginning the ensemble didn't have a name... 

The name of the ensemble became Room 5.22, the result of having many of the ensemble rehearsals in that particular room at the Codarts main building at Kruisplein in Rotterdam. The ensemble also joined the chamber music program at Codarts for two academic years, working with teachers such as Henri Bok, Patrick van Deurzen and Henk Guittart. 

With a strong focus on improvisation, the ensemble quickly became a popular entity within the classical music academy. The repertoire also included written pieces with aleatoric and improvisational elements, by composers such as John Cage, Christian Wolff, Henri Bok and several of the ensemble members.

Room 5.22 gave several concerts, mostly in Rotterdam, at venues such as WORM and Poortgebouw. Even though the active days of the ensemble are over, the experience of playing together and learning together will stay with us, and keep shaping our musicianship for the future. There is a plan to re-unite for a final concert, with a world-premiere of a piece by fellow Codarts student Enis Gumus... 

Musicians who have been a part of Room 5.22: 
 

• Hugo Harmens - voice/alto saxophone/composition

• Hans Blok - trumpet/composition

• Hinse Mutter - double bass/composition

• Elena del Castillo Gonzalez - piano

• Panagiotis Gklistis - piano

• Stefanie Nusser - bass clarinet

• Jouko Kuijk - violin

• Sophie Gourlet - flute

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• Masha Stepina - piano

• Rieneke Brink - flute

• Karolina Ogrodowska - flute

• Anastasija Zvirbule - violin