Keith Warner’s new production of The Threepenny Opera premières today at the Theater an der Wien.
Johannes Kalitzke conducts the Klangforum Wien, the production stars Tobias Moretti, Florian Boesch, Anne Sofie von Otter, Nina Bernsteiner, Angelika Kirchschlager and others.
Watch a short introduction to the production by Austrian TV station ORF.
Today Morton Feldman would have celebrated his 90th anniversary. 30 years ago, he held a lecture at the 33rd International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt.
Find the 2015 Classical music statistics on bachtrack.
There’s also an infographic of 2015 available.
Today at 7:30 CET/CEST, the Austrian radio station Ö1 presents the 2 1/2 hour programme In memoriam Pierre Boulez.
In the studio: Lothar Knessl, who knew Pierre Boulez since the post-war years, Christian Scheib, who was responsible for the script of “Pierre Boulez in Salzburg”, Florian Rosensteiner, who worked as a producer with Boulez, and Albert Hosp, who interviewed him for Ö1 on Mahler and Szymanowsky.
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My compositions use these sliding tones to create structures, „drawing“ geometrical systems of lines and curves which are slowly channelled into various intervallic relationships, creating a system of tension and release. […] Delta – Music for Orchestra IV uses the actual shape of the sign ∆ as the formal structure of the composition. Slow upwardly gliding lines are positioned over the tone “D” spinning a long web of harmonies and overtones driving towards a “D” unison. The expectations are, however, interrupted by a catharsis. |
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Tomorrow, 9 January, the UK première of Jay Schwartz’ Delta – Music for Orchestra IV will be performed at the City Halls in Glasgow. Matthias Pintscher conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In Gilbert Kaplan, Universal Edition loses an important partner and friend. Together with Renate Stark-Voit he edited the critical new edition of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 as part of the Critical Complete Edition of Mahler’s works.
No composer touched him more than Mahler. Kaplan’s publications and his support for the renovation of Mahler’s composer’s cottage in Steinbach/Attersee are only two examples of his tireless love for Mahler, which was always inspiring and enriching to us.
Two recent appearances in Vienna will remain unforgotten: on 18 May 2011, the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustav Mahler, he held a moving speech on the life and work of Mahler before a performance of the Symphony No. 9 at the Vienna State Opera.
On 17 February 2013, he conducted the world première of his reduced version of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, which he arranged together with Rob Mathes, at the Konzerthaus in Vienna.
We will miss him.
Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum for 3 choirs, prepared piano, string orchestra and tapewill be performed on Friday, 18.12., at the Kallio Church in Helsinki by the Emo Ensemble and Kamus.
Find out more on the website of Teema@Helsinki.
Beautiful – Georg Friedrich Haas’ Morgen und Abend and the “Total Immersion: Boulez at 90” programme made it into Fiona Maddocks’ best classical music of 2015 article:
“If you value the characteristics of Janáček’s music, this is the ideal edition” says Dieter Flury, the Vienna Philharmonic’s principal flutist and former general manager after the Austrian première of The Makropulos Affair in Jiří Zahrádka’s revised edition at the Vienna State Opera.
Jakub Hrůša made his first appearance as conductor at the State Opera and was applauded as enthusiastically as Laura Aikin as Emilia Marty in Peter Stein’s staging of the opera.
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Arvo Pärt’s Kleine Litanei for mixed choir a cappella was premièred by Erwin Ortner and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir at yesterday’s reopening of the subterranean St Virgil's Chapel Wien Museum. Here are snapshots of the composer at the rehearsals for Kleine Litanei and sitting next to the Austrian first lady Margit Fischer at the world première of the work at the St Virgil's Chapel. The next chance to listen to Kleine Litanei will be at the Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk on 16 May. |
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Happy 70th birthday Vic Hoyland! The composer was born in Yorkshire today in 1945. Find out more about Hoyland’s catalogue of works. For works composed after 1993, visit the composer’s website. |
Members of the Ensemble Wiener Collage present a portrait concert of Vykintas Baltakas on 12 December at the Kunstverein Alte Schmiede in Vienna: cellist Roland Schueler, pianist Jaime Wolfson and violinist Bojidara Kouzmanova will perform works from the composer’s oeuvre. Vykintas Baltakas will be present at the concert.
Commentum
for violoncello and piano | 10'
Roland Schueler, vc; Jaime Wolfson, pno
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
for violin solo | 6'
Bojidara Kouzmanova, vln
(how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?)
for piano | 5'
Jaime Wolfson, pno
Das Lied
for piano and tape | 5'
Jaime Wolfson, pno
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The Anglo-Portuguese Ensemble will perform Arnold Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht, which was inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same name, as part of their Christmas concert on 10 December at the Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory in London. They play the piece along with the Symphony in B Flat by Carlos Seixas and Fantasia upon one note by Henry Purcell. |
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BBC Radio 3 broadcasts a recording of Georg Friedrich Haas’ highly acclaimed opera Morgen und Abend tomorrow at 19:30 CET/CEST. Listen live.
Want to peruse the score while listening to the opera? We’ve uploaded the full conductor’s score for you here:
Das Mystische, das, was fast nicht erklärbar ist, und der Entschluss, sich auf der Bühne nach einer gewissen Zeit nicht mehr zu schminken, das Innen nach Außen zu transformieren, die konsequente Reduktion von Dekoration auf der Bühne - das hat viel mit Arvo Pärt zu tun. (John Neumeier on Duse)
Alessandra Ferri dances the title role of John Neumeier’s new ballet Duse, which premières this Sunday at the Staatsoper Hamburg.
The ballet features music by Arvo Pärt and Benjamin Britten, Simon Hewett conducts the orchestra of the Staatsoper Hamburg.