With »Nova Atlantis«, Miako Klein and Jia Lim open a space of deceleration – an experiential environment in which time reorganizes itself. Traversing centuries of sound and imagination, the past appears here not as a static archive, but as a living substance that continually transforms through its encounter with contemporary technologies. Inspired by Francis Bacon’s »New Atlantis« (1626), Miako Klein and Jia Lim reimagine works by Bacon’s musical contemporaries through improvised interpretations. At the core of »Nova Atlantis« – released as an album on Buzz in January 2026 – lies a dialogue between the historical and the experimental, between notation and improvisation. Drawing on the musical grammar of the Baroque – its affects, rhetorical figures and formal architectures – the duo unfolds ephemeral forms in the spirit of the Stylus Fantasticus: preludes emerge as gestures of searching, chaconnes condense into circular repetitions and transitions oscillate between order and dissolution. Electronics do not appear as an opposing force, but as an extension of the sonic field itself: timbres are stretched, fractured and layered. Harpsichord and Baroque violin lose their fixed historical foundation and emerge as fluid, mutable sound bodies. What emerges is a distinct sonic identity that resists linear narratives of history: »Nova Atlantis« is neither a return nor a continuation, but an in-between – a sonic space of possibility in which past and present do not stand in opposition, but flow into one another.

Miako Klein and Jia Lim came together as early music specialists with a shared interest in bridging historical performance practice with modern improvisation and live electronics. Their experimental approach led to a fruitful collaboration with sound engineer Sebastian Schottke at the ZKM – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, resulting in their debut album »Nova Atlantis« (2026).
Miako Klein is a Berlin-based musician and improviser, classically trained on recorder and violin. Moving between early, contemporary and experimental music, her work explores disciplinary boundaries through improvisation, electronics and interdisciplinary projects. She has performed with Ensemble Modern, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and Il Pomo d’Oro, and appears internationally with her ensembles Jane in Ether and Warble.
Jia Lim has a multifaceted background; she first played trumpet and piano before discovering the harpsichord during her studies. As a prize-winning early music specialist, she performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Her passion for experimentation has also led her to collaborate in a variety of contemporary music projects and theater productions, most recently with the Volksbühne in Berlin and Theater Basel.

https://www.novaatlantis.de

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