"I am always impressed by the remarkable range of inspiration that composers draw upon when writing new works. The ideas can come from the most unexpected places: memories, traditions, books, everyday life, or political events. Each piece ends up telling its own musical story, but the story behind the music is also telling: it reveals something more about the bigger picture - about family life, society or the times we are living in. The sources of inspiration for Telling Stories range from a rare orchid ("Limodore") and the natural world ("Meet the Edaphon") to a broken washing machine ("Dilemma") and moving house ("Finallee"): from personal memories and cultural traditions to global dynamics.” This statement from the director of the Composers' Orchestra Berlin, Hazel Leach describes very well the environment from which the "stories" of Telling Stories arise.

The Composers' Orchestra Berlin is a group of like-minded musicians who use their band structure of strings, brass and rhythm section as an experimental platform. The members are not only improvising instrumentalists but also composers. The cultural metropolis of Berlin is exactly the place for conductor Hazel Leach and the musicians of the Composers’ Orchestra Berlin to realize exciting concepts. This city acts like a magnet, attracting a lot of professional and original creative professionals, creating an ideal climate for unusual and innovative projects.

What is special about the C.O.B. concept is the fact that the ensemble’s colleagues are also their own assistants and composers. The line-up is always variable: the composers can select instruments from the band pool to develop an innovative orchestral repertoire which stylistic influences range from classical to jazz and from folk to free. Thus, the music written for this band knows no boundaries. So the charisma of each composition and thus its individual charm vary with the different line-ups of the individual pieces.