Work of the week

Fake news lead to mass panic: Ludger Vollmer's new opera Zusammenstoß (“Collision”) is based on a true event from 1910. It can be seen for the first time on 20 April 2024. Heidelberg Theatre is presenting the world premiere in a production by Christian Brey, with Dietger Holm and Kens Lui as musical directors.

A sound experience on a whole new level: on 12 April 2024, the new piece Poetica by Chaya Czernowin can be experienced for the first time at the Festspielhaus Hellerau in Dresden. Percussionist Stephen Schick and the Percussions de Strasbourg will perform the world premiere together with the catinblack ensemble. 

The horn is rarely heard alone in the orchestra and usually in the background: It sits in pairs or in the quartet at the back left. But in a solo concerto such as the new Horn Concerto by Huw Watkins, it makes its grand entrance. At the world premiere on 7 April 2024 in Saffron Walden, England, Ben Goldscheider will be the soloist in front of the orchestra. He will be accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia under the direction of Michael Papadopoulos.

There are operas that are inextricably linked to special days of the year. For example, Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck and La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini belong to Christmas. On Good Friday, on the other hand, Richard Wagner's Parsifal is regularly on the programme. This is because the Holy Grail, which according to legend was used to catch the blood of Christ on the cross, takes centre stage. On 28 March 2024, the Orchestre National de Lyon will present the French premiere of the Parsifal Suite under the direction of Markus Stenz.

A true re-discovery for the opera stage: Wolfgang Fortner's In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa (‘Don Perlimplin’s Love for Belisa in His Garden’), will celebrate its premiere at Oper Frankfurt on 22 March 2024. The opera can be seen at the Bockenheimer Depot in a new production by Dorothea Kirschbaum, performed by the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra under the direction of Takeshi Moriuchi. The two title roles are sung by Karolina Bengtsson as Belisa and Sebastian Geyer as Don Perlimplín.

A fight for life: Daniel Kidane wrote his new violin concerto Aloud for Julia Fischer. She will premiere it on 16 March 2024 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Edward Gardner.

The rugged landscape of northern Japan as inspiration: the world premiere of Thomas Larcher's new work for choir and orchestra entitled Love and the Fever will take place at the Gewandhaus Leipzig on 10 March 2024. The piece was commissioned by MDR, the Bregenz Festival, the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and the NTR Zaterdag Matinee. Dennis Russell Davies is conducting the MDR Rundfunkchor and the MDR Sinfonieorchester.

Talking cats, living teddy bears and flying fish - quite normal! At least in Toshio Hosokawa's children's play Your Friends From Afar (German original title “Deine Freunde aus der Ferne”). It will be performed in Germany for the first time on 3 March 2024. Members of the SWR Symphony Orchestra will perform the German premiere together with narrator Rainer Strecker at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

Mythological river journey: The new orchestral work by Japanese composer Noriko Koide will be heard for the first time on 23 February 2024. The Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra will present the world premiere of the 10-minute Riverside under the direction of Kentaro Kawase in the NTK Hall Forest Hall in Nagoya.

Katherine Balch has composed a large-scale orchestral work for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The new piece, entitled musica pyralis, will be premiered on 16 February 2024 at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It will be performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck.