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By carefully attending, nature and objects reveal their sounds. On November 22, 2023, soprano Anu Komsi will debut Sebastian Hilli's new song cycle. She will be joined by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and the Vaasa City Orchestra, led by Anna-Maria Helsing. The premiere of You Are the Earth Beneath You will be held at Schaumansalen in Pietarsaari, located on the west coast of Finland in the Swedish-speaking region.

Does my hair color make me a worse person? This is the question Friederike has to ask herself in the children's opera Die feuerrote Friederike (“Fiery Frederica”). The play, based on the children's book of the same name by Christine Nöstlinger, can now be seen in Switzerland for the first time. The new production will open at Theater St. Gallen on 16 November 2023, directed by Annika Nitsch and conducted by Stéphane Fromageot.

The anti-anti-opera: Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti will celebrate its premiere at the Frankfurt Opera on November 5, 2023. Vasily Barhatov will direct the production at the "Opera House of the Year", which has just been named in the music critics' survey of Opernwelt magazine. The new general music director Thomas Guggeis will be conducting in the pit, while the "Opera Choir of the Year" will perform on stage, along with many solos. This is the first of four major productions of the work in the current season, which celebrates the 100th birthday of Ligeti, who was born in 1923. At Vienna, the State Opera is opening the new production by director Jan Lauwers on November 11, with Pablo Heras-Casado conducting.

How does one find one's way back into life after a bad experience? Anno Schreier shows this path in his children's opera Mina. First performed in Bonn in 2022, the piece was recently seen at the Opera Factory in Freiburg and a new production will open on October 25, 2023 at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, directed by Ulduz Ashraf Gandomi. The musical side is provided by baritone David Pichlmaier and flutist Olga Koring.

Black History Month is an annual celebration which is observed around the world. During the month, communities gather together to celebrate and learn more about Black history and culture.

On 22 October 2023, the newly renovated Theater St. Gallen opens with the world premiere of the world's first major opera about a person who is transgender. Lili Elbe is the latest work by Grammy Award winner Tobias Picker and his librettist Aryeh Lev Stollman, commissioned by Konzert und Theater St. Gallen. The opera features a production by Krystian Lada, with musical direction by Modestas Pitrenas. American transgender baritone Lucia Lucas will embody the title role of Lili Elbe. 

His symphonic series is expanding: Turkish composer Fazıl Say has written his Symphony No. 6. The large-scale orchestral work is subtitled 100 Yaşında Bir Çocuk ("A 100-Year-Old Child") and will be premiered on October 12 in the Great Hall of the Zorlu PSM Cultural Center in Istanbul. The Borusan Istanbul Filarmoni Orkestrası will be conducted by Can Okan. 

He has always admired composer Robert Schumann and often drawn inspiration from his works: Jörg Widmann’s new piece, Schumannliebe (“Love for Schumann”), for voice and ensemble will have its world premiere at the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal on October 4th, 2023. Baritone Matthias Goerne will perform alongside the Remix Ensemble under the direction of Peter Rundel. 

The rediscovery continues: Erich Wolfgang Korngold's long-forgotten opera Das Wunder der Heliane (“The Miracle of Heliane”) has experienced a renaissance in recent years. A new version of the piece is now being premiered: The Nederlandse Reisopera presents Das Wunder der Heliane in a version for medium orchestra by Fergus McAlpine. This means that smaller opera houses can now also perform the piece. The premiere will take place in Enschede on September 30.

A journey into the psyche of 500 years ago: Australian composer Mary Finsterer embarks on an extraordinary search for clues in her opera Biographica. The work will be premiered in Melbourne on September 21. Here at Theare Works, it will be directed by Heather Fairbairn and conducted by Patrick Burns.