opernwelt’s annual survey is out:
Congratulations to Georg Nigl, who has been selected “singer of the year 2015” in Andrea Breth’s “performance of the year” of Jakob Lenz at the opera Stuttgart.
Also congratulations to Marlis Petersen who won “singer of the year” for her title role in Berg’s Lulu at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
You can watch the trailer for the production here:
Which aesthetic-philosophical discourses exist at the moment? Is talking about music part of the compositional process?
In the eighth and final Salongespräch of impuls neue music, composers Wolfgang Rihm and Pascal Dusapin and host Uli Aumüller will address the topic of musical beauty.
The event takes place on 21 September at the Institut Francais in Berlin.
On the day before the talk, Wolfgang Rihm’s Musik für 3 Streicher will be performed at the Philharmonie in the frame of the Musikfest Berlin. The composer will be present at the concert.
Find out more on the website of impuls neue musik.
“Eine Akademie kann heute nur der Ort des Un-Akademischen sein!” (Wolfgang Rihm)
News from Lucerne: the Lucerne Festival has announced that from summer 2016, Wolfgang Rihm will be the new artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Academy.
Congratulations!
“- Welche Bedeutung hat oder hatte Schönberg für Sie?
- Von ihm ging ich aus. Er, Alban Berg und Anton Webern waren für mich musikalisch Grundnahrung in frühester Zeit.“ (Wolfgang Rihm and Tobias Schwartz, Der Tagesspiegel, 3 September 2015)
Composer Wolfgang Rihm talks to Der Tagesspiegel about Arnold Schönberg, twelve-tone technique and sensuous mathematicians.
The interview was held on the occasion of the opening of the Musikfest Berlin.
Pierre Boulez loves virtuosity, says moderator Wolfgang Schaufler. “His music does not have extreme compositional virtuosity, but there is a certain risk,” says Tamara Stefanovich. For example, the Second Sonata, which will also be played in concert tomorrow, is perfectly formulated. “The ideas are very clear. Beyond the structure, however, he manages to take the audience with him,” she says. “The piece develops into a mystery, delving into acoustic and pianistic impossibilities,” as she says. The ear is challenged to the extreme.
When discussing Boulez, one must not lose sight of the fact that he is a French composer, in the tradition of Debussy, says Wolfgang Schaufler. Of course he was strongly influenced by the Viennese School, but in his music one hears a completely free spirit.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard met Boulez when the latter was only 51. “He was already Mount Everest at the time,” says the pianist. He describes Boulez as a man full of humanity, with enormous activism on behalf of music, and always dedicated to the cause. Both in human and in moral terms, he is a role model.
Of course he plays Boulez works differently today than he did 20 years ago, explains Aimard. That is completely natural – after all, he too has developed, and he keeps discovering new levels and hidden layers in the music. For many ,Boulez’ music was provocative in 1992 – today one has the impression that the audience has a more natural approach to it. So was Boulez a modernist in 1992 and has become a classic? “Maybe,” says Pierre-Laurent Aimard, “but a classic who remains beautifully disturbing!” Boulez’ music demands more exertion, is more challenging, but also richer, says the pianist. That is why he thinks it suitable for any listener who might feel that contemporary music is inaccessible.
Wolfgang Rihm describes how he cried, overcome with emotion, because Konwitschny managed to create emotions with the help of a book. The stage sets show a destroyed world with a white room at its centre, inside which Montezuma arranges everything down to the smallest detail in the beginning. The windows are washed, the carpet smoothed out, and this book, Shadows of Wild Horses, is placed on the table carefully, ensuring that they have something to talk about during their first meeting. At the end of Act II, the room is overtaken by absolute chaos, and the book becomes a symbol. “The history of the relationship is told with great consequence,” the soprano says.
During recent days, composer Wolfgang Rihm has been asked frequently by journalists what made the Salzburg Festival special. “They were always quite astonished at my answers,” he says. “Salzburg is a place where one is offered a mind-boggling working situation. It is possible to work here with incredible intensity, and with so much love and passion.”
 LMZ_Neumayr_SB (7)_web.jpg "© LMZ_Neumayr_SB")
After more than thirty years of an intense and artistically most beautiful relation to the Salzburg Festival, Wolfgang Rihm was awarded the “Honorary Medal of the Province of Salzburg” by the governor Dr. Wilfried Haslauer in Salzburg yesterday.
Angela Denoke, Wolfgang Rihm and director Peter Konwitschny during the rehearsals for Die Eroberung von Mexico, which will première on 26 July at the Salzburg Festival.
- Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico
- Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera
- Celebrating the 90th birthday of Pierre Boulez
- The Barber of Seville for children
Find out more about Universal Edition at this year’s Salzburg Festival in our current newsletter.
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Tonight at the Teater Republique in Kopenhagen: conductor Benjamin Schneider and the Ensemble Modern present the Danish première of Wolfgang Rihm’s Sextett for clarinet, horn and string quartet at the Klang Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival.
This concert will be followed by a performance of Pierre Boulez’ Troisième Sonate by pianist Jonas Olsson.
The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester has published part 3 of their “Rihm in Salzburg” video series, watch it on YouTube:
Have you yet seen the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester’s “Rihm in Salzburg” video series? Episodes 1 and 2 are already available online, episodes 3 and 4 will be published soon.
About “Rihm in Salzburg”: In 2014, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester commissioned the Piano Concerto No 2 by Wolfgang Rihm, together with the Salzburg Festival and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC. The world première took place at the Salzburg Festival on 25 August 2014, with Tzimon Barto on piano and Christoph Eschenbach – to whom the piece was also dedicated – as conductor.
Watch episode 1:
This Tuesday, 12 May, accordionist Alfred Melichar and the Ensemble Wiener Collage present an evening with Wolfgang Rihm at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna. Rihm’s eight Fetzen will be performed together with Arnold Schönberg’s Serenade. Entrance will be free for students.
All that said, Rihm’s trio is an exciting piece and definitely worth another hearing. The three soloists—violinist Ulf Schneider, cellist Martin Löhr and pianist Eckart Heiligers—make up the Trio Jean Paul and they did a heroic job of bringing the piece to life. (Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, TheaterJones, 18 April 2015)
TheaterJones has reviewed the US premiére of Wolfgang Rihm’s Trio Concerto by Trio Jean Paul and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (cond. Jaap van Zweden).
In this work text fragments from the Roman requiem liturgy can be heard; however not 'intact' and not in the correct liturgical order. They appear more as components reminiscent of a progressively realised whole. (Wolfgang Rihm)
ECM has released a recording of the Huelgas Ensemble and the Minguet Quartett performing Wolfgang Rihm’s ET LUX for vocal quartet and string quartet.
The CD includes a booklet with an introductory statement by Wolfgang Rihm and liner notes by Paul Griffiths and Wolfgang Schreiber.
Watch an interview with Wolfgang Rihm on ET LUX (German interview with French subtitles):