The Dutch National Opera has opened the 2014-2015 season with an absolute first: the scenic world première of Arnold Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder.

Watch their trailer here:

The Financial Times has reviewed the “hauntingly honest portrait of an era on the brink of extinction, with the frangible beauty of a fairytale castle soon to be crushed forever”, read the full text.

Furthermore, the Arnold Schönberg Center is presenting an exhibition on Arnold Schönberg in The Netherlands and Gurre-Lieder, find out more.

Arnold Schönberg: Gurre-Lieder
for soli, choir and orchestra | 130'
scenic world première, 02.09.2014, Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam; Waldemar, Burkhard Fritz; Tove, Emily Magee; Waldtaube, Anna Larsson; Bauer, Markus Marquardt; Klaus Narr, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke; Sprecher, Sunnyi Melles; Chorus of the Dutch National Opera; KammerChor des ChorForum Essen; Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Marc Albrecht; directed by Pierre Audi
further performances: 07., 12., 15., 18., 21. and 23.09.2014

The Arnold Schönberg Center has revealed the programme for its next season, read it on issuu:

The Korean pianist Narey Park will perform six piano pieces from Korea and Austria on 27 February at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna. Among the works performed will be three Austrian premières of works from Korean composers and Arnold Schönberg’s 3 Piano Pieces op. 11.

View the full programme.

The event is hosted by the SNU (Seoul National University) Composers in Europe.

The permanent exhibition “Arnold Schönberg: The Musical Idea” opened last month at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.

From the Schönberg Center’s homepage:

Schönberg described a work of art as “a labyrinth where, at every point, every knowledgeable person is aware of the entrance and the exit without needing a golden thread to guide him.” The new exhibition shows just how very exciting it can be to enter a labyrinth and encounter an artistic event at every junction.

Its content and architecture illustrate Schönberg’s lifelong topic of the “idea” in all its representational variety. Music is at the center with painting and other manifestations of his creative drive as multifaceted guidelines toward discovering an artistic figure who was as path-breaking as he was imaginative.

Original manuscripts, documents and visual works from the Center’s archive are supplemented on multimedia presentation levels. Replicas of objects from Schönberg’s living environment allow direct contact with items in his everyday life (letters, calendars, photo albums, music scores, concert programs, etc.). The interactive world map guides one into Schönberg’s living and working environment.

Find out more about the exhibition.