Herbert Willi's Trumpet Concerto "Eirene" at The Philadelphia Orchestra

This month The Philadelphia Orchestra presents Herbert Willi's trumpet concerto Eirene featuring soloist David Bilger. Premiered in 2002 by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eirene is the first installment of Willi's concerto collection entitled the Montafon Cycle. The title of this concerto cycle refers not only to the mountainous region in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg in which the composer resides, but also to the term monophony, as in the sound of the mountains. With Eirene, the composer aims to capture the varying valleys and plateaus of the Montafon Region with delicate and sometimes jazzy solo trumpet lines alternating with grandiose orchestral fanfare. Willi's concertos ...geraume Zeit... (for flute) ego eimi (clarinet) and Äon (horn) round out the Montafon Cycle. Christoph Campestrini leads David Bilger and The Philadelphia Orchestra through Eirene on Thursday, March 6 followed by two more performances on Friday March 7 and Saturday, March 8 in Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.

The works of Austrian born Herbert Willi have been performed by leading orchestras and ensembles all over the world. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Austrian State Scholarship for Composers three times over, the Rolf Liebermann Scholarship for Opera Composers in 1990 and the Award for Young Composers by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation. Willi was appointed Composer-in-Residence at the Salzburg Festival in 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1998 and was Composer-in-Residence of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des Wiener Musikvereins and of the Wiener Concert-Vereins for the 2002/03 season.

For information on The Philadelphia Orchestra's performances, visit www.philorch.org.

Herbert Willi
Eirene (2001)
concerto for trumpet and orchestra
pic.11.ca.1.bcl.ssx.asx.2-2221-timp.3perc-pno.hp-str(12.10.8.6.4)
15'