Work of the Week - Richard Ayres: No. 46

Richard Ayres' new orchestral work, No. 46, will receive its world premiere this week at the Holland Festival performed by the Residentie Orchestra conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw.  Scored for very large orchestra, No. 46 is a tour de force that promises to be one of the highlights of the festival which sees Ayres feature prominently. Further performances of the new work in France and the UK are already planned.

Talking about the work, Ayres simply states:

I hope it contains happy bits, sad and tragic bits, serious bits, funny bits, and bits that we don't quite understand. This is how I experience life.

As well as the new orchestral work, a new production of the composer's opera The Cricket Recovers will also be featured at the festival. Three performances will take place at the Het Compagnietheater from 19th June performed by singers from Vocal Lab and the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Etienne Siebens.

Exclusive sample pages from the full score of No. 46 are available to view from this link.

No. 46 will be premiered on Saturday 4th June at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw aan't IJ as part of the Holland Festival.

1. Richard Ayres - Profile
2. Holland Festival