Blog

Despite Korea and Austria being thousands of miles apart, music has created an unlikely link between the two nations: Austrian composer Herbert Willi dedicates his new composition DSONG to the basic Korean principle of connection. It receives its premiere on 14 August 2022 at the Festspielhaus Bregenz with the Orchesterakademie Bregenz and musical director Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

"Tension as total silenzio [...]" was perceived by Luigi Nono during the premiere of his secular cantata Il canto sospeso, and later penned to Paul Dessau. Alternatively, the total silence may have been speechlessness, given the nature of Nono's composition and the texts he set to music. Schott is now publishing Il canto sospeso in a new, opulently decorated facsimile edition.

What if our world ended tomorrow? Should the extinction of his own creation occur, the biblical God does not shrink, a concept depicted multiple times in the Old Testament. Carl Orff’s “Play of the End of Times” De temporum fine comoedia embodies this existential idea in its production premiere by Romeo Castellucci on 26 July 2022 as part of the Salzburger Festspiele.

The breath carries Michael Tippett’s Symphony No. 4 through seven fluid movements, his last symphony, tracing life’s journey from “birth to death”.  Look out for Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms on 19 July 2022!

The discord between composer and poet during the conception of an opera happens to the best of us, with Richard Strauss no exception. Ironically, he addresses this balance of forces within an operatic work, namely Capriccio.

Hibernation in summer? – In Sebastian Hilli's new composition Hibernation, the term "hibernation" represents not an external, but an internal "cold spell". On July 7, 2022, Hibernation will be performed in Viitasaari, Finland as part of the Time of Music Festival. The International Ensemble Modern Academy will be conducted by Alexander Sinan Binder, with video projections by Jenny Jokela.

A psychological thriller on the opera stage – the opera Die Teufel von Loudun by Krzysztof Penderecki could certainly receive such an introduction. On June 27, 2022, the piece will premiere in a new production by Simon Stone at the Bayerische Staatsoper, with Vladimir Jurowski as musical director.

“We want to be in your gang!” – That’s likely what Schiller’s robbers would have said to their captain Karl Moor if they had lived in the 21st century. In Ludger Vollmer’s opera for young people, Schillers Räuber, they use these exact words. The play will premiere at the Stadttheater in Hildesheim on June 25, 2022. Achim Falkenhausen takes charge of musical direction, Oliver Pauli is director and Alaz Deniz Köymen, choreographer.

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff is undoubtedly among the most popular symphonic choral works. Paul Leonhard Schäffer’s new reduced version offers smaller ensembles the opportunity to perform this large-scale work, whilst maintaining the “original sound”. Schäffer’s version will be heard for the first time on June 19, 2022 in Visp, Switzerland, performed by both Oberwalliser Vokalensemble and the Chaarts Ensemble, conducted by Hansruedi Kampfen. A further performance will follow on June 25, 2022 in Boswil.

Hope will never be silent. This is the credo of civil rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, the main character in Stewart Wallace’s opera Harvey Milk Reimagined. The work will receive its world premiere at Opera Saint Louis, Missouri, conducted by Carolyn Kuan in collaboration with stage directors Seán Curran and James Robinson.