In 2003, eight students at the Cologne University of Music founded the Kölner Klassik Ensemble. Today - 20 years later - this ensemble has developed into one of the leading collectives for classical chamber music in NRW. The young Cologne Classical Ensemble's own arrangements of Astor Piazzolla's "Las Estaciones Porteñas" were a great success and the CD released by Sony has become known worldwide. In addition to the original eight-piece chamber ensemble, other outstanding formations of the chamber music scene have formed within the Kölner Klassik Ensemble: the Astor Trio, the Duo Kravets & Kassung, the Arisva String Quartet and the 8CELLI.
Numerous concerts at home and abroad as well as the extensive recordings for Sony Classical and KSG Exaudio are proof of the ensemble's exceptional quality and are regularly praised by audiences and critics alike. Since 2020, the Kölner Klassik Ensemble has been the host of kammerkonzerte.koeln. The series is dedicated to classical chamber music in all its diversity and presents outstanding guest ensembles from Cologne and North Rhine-Westphalia alongside the various line-ups of the Kölner Klassik Ensemble.