A cosmic remedy for fear: On April 30, 2026, Wilfried Hiller celebrates his 85th birthday with the world premiere of The Star Seller (“Der Sternenverkäufer”) at Munich's Orff-Zentrum. Based on a story by Alexander Kostinskij, this melodrama explores the liberating power of imagination and honors a lifetime dedicated to poetic music theater.
A beacon of hope from Latvia: As Pēteris Vasks turns 80 on April 16, 2026, his iconic violin concerto Tālā gaisma takes center stage. Performed on April 17 in Munich’s Herz-Jesu-Kirche, this "Distant Light" bridges the gap between the struggles of the past and a luminous, harmonious future.
A deeply personal world premiere: Fazıl Say’s Bosphorus Romance for flute and string orchestra premieres on March 22, 2026, at Munich’s Prinzregententheater. Dedicated to his wife, soloist Aslıhan And Say, the piece captures the shifting moods of Istanbul, from quiet park strolls to high-energy traditional dances.
Henze's satirical opera The English Cat as a new production at the Bavarian State Opera to mark the start of the ‘Henze 100’ anniversary year.
The anti-anti-opera: Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti will celebrate its premiere on 28 June 2024 at the Munich Opera Festival at the Bavarian State Opera. The piece thus marks the end of the 2023/2024 season, which began last year on the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. Kent Nagano will conduct the production, which will be staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski.
Two productions of Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov will open the year 2024: on 14 January 2024, the Bavarian State Opera will present the revival of its successful production at the Munich National Theatre. The production by Calixto Bieito will be under the musical direction of Dima Slobodeniouk. On 28 January 2024, the National Theatre Mannheim will stage a new production of the piece at the Theater im Pfalzbau in Ludwigshafen. The director here is Lorenzo Fioroni, with Roberto Rizzi Brignoli conducting. Both productions use the historical-critical performance material published by Verlagsgruppe Hermann.
Julian Anderson's Symphony No. 2, will celebrate its US premiere on December 7, 2023 at Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH. The Cleveland Orchestra will present the piece under the baton of Semyon Bychkov, who conducted the world premiere with the Munich Philharmonic at the beginning of last year.
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.
The question is not “to be or not to be”, but “who would you like to be”? In his opera, Achill unter den Mädchen, Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz raises questions about gender identity and role models. On 17 March 2023, The Munich Radio Orchestra, under the direction of Oliver Tardy, will take on the first night of this production by Franziska Severin featuring soloists from the August Everding Theatre Academy at Munich’s Prinzregententheater.
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