Cologne’s Early-Music Centre Begins Building Its New Home

A former Thyssenkrupp administration building in Cologne-Ehrenfeld is being transformed into a new home for zamus, the city’s early-music centre. Construction has begun, with completion planned for January 2028. The project brings rehearsal, performance, teaching and administrative functions into one building after several years of searching for a suitable site.

The new premises will cover approximately 2,100 square metres. Plans describe halls for rehearsals and events, practice rooms, offices and accommodation for artists in residence, with improved accessibility. Some published descriptions count 192 rooms or spaces within the project; that figure should be understood as a description of the whole complex rather than 192 separate concert halls.

zamus traces its original Heliosstraße home to 2000 and now serves more than 200 members of the Cologne Society for Early Music, drawn from Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Its current activities include an annual early-music festival, the :unlimited concert series, seminars and the youth-oriented juba baroque music festival.

The building will also accommodate other musical tenants. Concerto Köln is expected to move in, as is the West German Broadcasting Corporation’s Studio for Electronic Music. Ensemble Musikfabrik has been identified as a potential future operator of that studio, a detail that remains conditional rather than a completed transfer.

The combination is unusual in a productive way: historical performance practice will share an address with electronic music, while resident artists and young musicians may use the same practical infrastructure. For a freelance scene that often depends on rented space, reliable rooms can matter as much as a high-profile concert season. The test of the renovation will be how well the new facilities serve musicians after the January 2028 opening.