Wolters has maintained an outsider position in the world of contemporary music with works which deconstruct and question the traditional concert situation or which are designed for performance outside the concert hall. He has written music for traditional ensembles like
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (
Journal,
Neighbours for a Night and
I see with my eyes closed) but prefers not to be confined by conventional set-ups and concert rituals. This has resulted in pieces with unusual instrumentations (His 2012 twelve-minute-long opera
The Voyage in collaboration with Birmingham-based theatre company
Stan's Cafe, for example, is written for mezzo-soprano, eleven recorders and double bass ), performances in unusual places (
wahnsinnig wichtig on ice [with New Guide to Opera] took place on and around an ice rink) or projects of unusual duration (his
Spring Symphony: The Joy of Life is the shortest symphony in the world and lasts around 17 seconds and the performance of
Wir sehen uns morgen wieder [with New Guide to Opera] lasted for one month). He strongly believes that the idea and the concept of a work are the crucial elements to create a successful piece of art. There is no place for musical or other material that doesn't serve the idea. His work focuses on many of the principles highlighted in
Sol LeWitt's Sentences on Conceptual Art. One of the major influences on his music was the work of American performance artist
Laurie Anderson in the 1980s. He especially admires Anderson's ability to use multiple artistic genres to create highly effective and moving performance situations, where – in her typical postmodern way – she tells stories while highlighting the fact that she is telling stories. == Reactions ==