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You have certainly watched a silent film before. But have you ever seen a film without a picture? This is exactly what Peter Eötvös is trying to achieve in his new work Focus – a piece of music in which the ear is guided as if by a camera. The concerto for saxophone and orchestra will be premiered at the Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz in Cologne on 15 January 2022. Saxophone soloist Marcus Weiss will play alongside the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln conducted by Elena Schwarz.

Do you wish for a new beginning next year? Then we have a piece for you that will make your new year's resolution a success: Der Anfang by Anno Schreier. The 10-minute work for choir and orchestra will be premiered at Theater Aachen's New Year's Concert at the Eurogress on 1 January 2022 as a prologue to Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The Aachen Opera Choir and the Aachen Symphonic Choir will sing alongside the Aachen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Ward.

Paris 1866: The perfect setting for a romantic love story with long walks along the Seine. At least you might think so. But Tobias Picker’s opera Thérèse Raquin is not only about love, but also deals with murder, intrigue and revenge. The libretto, which was written by Gene Scheer, is based on the novel of the same name by Émile Zola. Christian Thausing will stage the European premiere at the Theater an der Wien on 16 December 2021. The premiere will take place in English with German surtitles.

An orchestral work that contains explosives and twelve mechanical car horns… must have been written by Ligeti! Exactly 30 years ago, English conductor and composer Elgar Howarth put together the Macabre Collage, an orchestral suite based on György Ligeti’s only opera Le Grand Macabre. However, the arrangement was withdrawn in 1997 as several sections had become irrelevant after revisions to the opera. In 2021, these revisions were incorporated into the Macabre Collage. The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra will present the first performance of the revised version on 10 December. Brad Lubman will conduct the concert at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Talking cats, moving teddy bears and flying fish - completely normal! At least it appears in Toshio Hosokawa’s new piece for children, Deine Freunde aus der Ferne. The world premiere of the 40-minute work for speaking voice and ensemble will take place on 4 December 2021 at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg as part of the “Rainy Days” festival. Protagonist Salome Kammer will perform with the United Instruments of Lucilin ensemble under the direction of Nelly Danker, with design by Robert Pflanz. Deine Freunde aus der Ferne is Hosokawa’s first work for children and was written for young people between the ages of 5 - 9. The text was written in German by Yoko Tawada. 

“When it’s out of necessity, anything is permissible.” This bold statement appears in the opera Sleepless by composer Peter Eötvös and his wife Mari Mezei, the librettist. Jon Fosse’s novel Trilogy provides the basis for the story. Eötvös himself will conduct the world premiere of the work in Berlin at Staatsoper Unter den Linden on 28 November 2021. The work will be staged by Kornél Mundruczó, with set design and costumes by Monika Pomale. The performance will take place in English with German and English surtitles.

The Peril of Dreams by Hannah Lash – like a symphony in four movements

The Peril of Dreams is a symphony expressed through the lens of a double harp concerto: four movements which are in many ways thematically connected. The first movement lays out the musical materials and the relationship of soloists to ensemble. The second, a kind of minuet scherzo, reveals a hidden character – the ‘hymn from upstairs’, which only makes its appearance at the very end of the movement. The third movement is a kind of Tarantella or death dance – a short, poisonous spike of energy before the somber, tragic final movement in which the harps drift nobly further and further from the orchestra. Hannah Lash

• Hannah Lash: Composer profile


• The Peril of Dreams: Work details and online score


• The Peril of Dreams at Benaroya Hall


• Schott Journal: Dreams

Poet Zohar Eitan as inspiration for Atara by Chaya Czernowin

In Atara, the orchestra moves slowly and forcefully in huge independent blocks. Opposing this, the singers and their chamber instrumental formation are fragile, lost in the huge spaces suddenly opened up by the orchestra. Chaya Czernowin

• Chaya Czernowin: Composer profile  


• Atara: Work details and online score


• Atara at the Wien Modern festival
   

I wrote the piano concerto on the occasion of Georges Cziffra's 100th birthday. My family had personal connections to him and I had the opportunity to get to know him when I was still a child. Cziffra's whole life was one of success and tragedy. It was rhapsodic and dramatic. This is precisely the atmosphere I have tried to create in my piano concerto. The characteristic, metallic rhythm heard in the first movement is reminiscent of the work in the quarry during his imprisonment. The later, meditative state of the moments of his withdrawal from the public has been composed in three quiet cadenzas. Each movement ends with a short violin solo, a personal tribute. Peter Eötvös

• Peter Eötvös: Composer profile


• Cziffra Psodia: Work details and online score


• Cziffra100 Festvial at MüPa

10 great studies in the style and language of bebop

for piano and guitar

Jim Snidero

• Jazz studies


• Includes demo and play-along tracks


• Suitable for both instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists alike as an entry into bebop


• Intermediate level