Conductor Ilan Volkov introduces the New Century concerts by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Volkov and the BBC SSO perform Schönberg, Berg and Webern on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Watch the video on YouTube.

Eberhard Kloke’s new arrangement of Lulu for chamber orchestra – including his new version of the third act – is given its world première in Giessen tomorrow night.

The smaller orchestration opens up Berg’s masterpiece to smaller theatres and stages that previously struggled with the size of the orchestra.

Happy Birthday Alban Berg! He was born on 9 February 1885, 127 years ago today.

On this day in 1945, Frank Martin’s Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke was premièred in Basel by the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Paul Sacher.

In 1949, the orchestral suite of Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod was premièred in Baden Baden by the Radio Orchestra.

20 years ago today, on 9 February 1992, Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Die Eroberung von Mexiko was first heard at the Hamburg State Opera – Ingo Metzmacher conducted. Here’s a German introduction on the Deutschlandfunk radio website.

And on the same day in 1992, Arvo Pärt’s And One of the Pharisees ... was given its world première by Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.

Artistic Director David Pountney has just announced the 2012–2014 programme of the Welsh National Opera.

Under the title Free Spirits, the WNO is presenting Alban Berg’s Lulu and Leoš Janácek’s Cunning Little Vixen in spring 2013.

The full programme is here (PDF file).

The Vienna Philharmonic opens its 2011 Salzburg Festival residency tonight with a concert of music by Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler.

Pierre Boulez conducts and is joined by Anna Prohaska, Dorothea Röschmann, Anna Larsson and Johan Botha.

Alban Berg: Lulu Suite
Alban Berg: Der Wein
Gustav Mahler: Das klagende Lied

The concert will be broadcast on Sunday 7 August at 11am on ORF OE1 Radio.

Watch Pierre Boulez talking to UE about the music of Gustav Mahler

Watch on YouTube

Here’s a brief postscript to the many obituaries for Robert Tear. I read in the Guardian and the Telegraph that he had sung in the world première of Lulu in 1979, with the new third act by Friedrich Cerha.

After a brief glance into the hallowed UE archive folders, I found the Observer’s review of the première, where Tears’ “absorbing performance” as the painter is commended.

The Festive Days of Early Music begin next week at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

We could argue about the meaning of ‘early music’ (in German ‘alte Musik’ literally means old music) and ‘modern music’, but we can safely call music that was composed a hundred years ago ‘old’. And it’s this music that will be presented by Klangforum Wien in three concerts this March.

The series begins with a programme containing Alban Berg’s Chamber Concerto, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in the Schönberg arrangement, and Schönberg’s own Chamber Symphony Op. 9.

This March, Theo Verbey’s completed arrangement of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite for string orchestra goes on tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, in a new programme staged by Pierre Audi with the title Liebestod (The Death of Love).

Read more about the programme, which also includes Wagner’s Prelude from Tristan and Isolde and a new work by Michel van der Aa.

Performances start today in Stockholm, followed by Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam, London and Hamburg.

Video introduction:

(view on YouTube)

Stefan Herheim's production of Lulu, first seen in Copenhagen last autumn, now comes to the Norwegian Opera in Oslo.

The production includes the new realisation of the third act by Eberhard Kloke.

Opening night is 16 February.

Video excerpts from the Copenhagen production:

The German première of the new third act will be given in Erfurt this June.