Some visual impressions from the very successful “Tonsättarweekend” at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, where Victoria Borisova-Ollas was honoured with a composer portrait from 18 – 21 April.

We just caught sight of this poster in Stockholm. The first day of the Tonsättarweekend with Victoria Borisova-Ollas at the Konserthuset went well, tomorrow the composer portrait continues with performances of Angelus, Open Ground and Wunderbare Leiden. 

View the full programme of the portrait.

Today the Swiss première of Morton Feldman’s only opera (or anti-opera) Neither takes place at the Stadttheater Bern. Stefan Schreiber conducts the Berner Symphony Orchestra with soprano Hélène Fauchère.

You can listen to an audio excerpt of the piece or read a work introduction by former interpreter Emilio Pomárico on our dedicated page. There’s also a fascinating article regarding the ‘co-elaboration’ between Feldman and Beckett available at The Modern Word which you shouldn’t miss out on.

Neither
Opera in 1 act | 55’
3 3 3 4 - 3 3 3 1 - perc(4), hp(2), pno, str
Swiss première, 19/4/2013, Stadttheater Bern; Hélène Fauchère, s; Berner SO, cond. Stefan Schreiber

Georg Friedrich Haas, Vykintas Baltakas, Mauricio Sotelo and Luke Bedford after the amazing performance of in vain under Sir Simon Rattle.

Nicholas Collon with Gertraud and Friedrich Cerha after the performance of Like a Tragicomedy at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid on 7 April. As you can see, they were very happy with the performance.

You can read about – and listen to an excerpt of – Like a Tragicomedy on our homepage.

Greetings from the Frankfurt Music Fair. Come and see us in hall 3.1 C42.

Some impressions from the opening of the Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum at the University of Music in Karlsruhe on 5 April 2013. Cristine Ehman’s bust of Wolfgang Rihm, which is welded to the wall, features notes from the composer’s Opera Dionysos.

Today the RBB Kulturradio broadcasts a recording of Vykintas Baltakas’ Cantio from the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin on 17 January 2013.

The stream starts at 21:04 (CET) and is available on the RBB Kulturradio homepage:

David Sawer at the world première of Flesh and Blood at the Barbican.

View the full vocal score

“Flesh and Blood was a great success, a 23-minute “dramatic scene” by David Sawer on the subject of love and war, a soldier departing from his mother. If Howard Barker’s text is sometimes impenetrable, Sawer’s music reveals all, vivid and explicit enough to set an opera before us, with even these singers’ respective ages being reasonably close to realistic”

Ausschnitt aus Colin Andersons Kritik

Don’t miss out on today's live transmission of the scandal concert at the Musikverein.

The concert starts at 19:30 (CET), the live stream is available at Radio Ö1.

Find our latest Newsletter here: a special on Cristóbal Halffter's forthcoming opera Schachnovelle.

The world première of the Rumpelstiltskin Suite will take place on 6 April at the Wigmore Hall in London.

David Sawer on the piece for ensemble: “The Rumpelstiltskin Suite is shorter than the original ballet [Rumpelstiltskin], it’s about 25 to 30 minutes long. The original score is divided into eight movements, and from these original eight movements I’ve taken six and shortened them to make the suite. So it tells the story still, but in a much more compressed manner.”

Rumpelstiltskin Suite
for ensemble | 25’
1 1 2 1 - 1 1 0 1 - hp, vln, vla, vc, cb
world première: 6/4/2013 Wigmore Hall, London; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, cond. George Benjamin

The Lithuanian Ensemble Network (LEN) is a professional ensemble connecting Baltic musicians dedicated to contemporary music. Its primary concern is to establish contacts with the main figures of the contemporary music world, involving them into the Baltic music scene and creating a creative platform for emerging composers. LEN is also acting internationally, having performed at the WDR Cologne, the RUHR.2010 – Capital of Culture, and the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin.

The ensemble started its own concert series – “Composers of our time” – in Vilnius in 2010. The next concert of “Composers of our time” on 4 April is dedicated to Luciano Berio, representing a broad spectrum of works, written between 1952 and 1999:

Sequenza III (1968), Air (aus “Opera” 1969/1970), Naturale (1985), El mar la mar (1952/1969), O King (1968), Lied (1983), Différences (1958–1959) and Altra voce (1999).

This concert is a cooperation between the LEN and the festival Jauna Muzika. Vykintas Baltakas will be conducting, with soprano Rita Balta and mezzosoprano Rita Mačiliūnaitė.

The “Composers of our time” will be continued in the season 2013/2014, focusing on Wolfgang Rihm and Matthias Pintscher.

With the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the Goethe Institut Vilnius.

Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
in cooperation with the festival of electronic music “Jauna muzika”
4 April 2013, Vilnius (LT)

Giedrius Gelgotas, fl; Andrius Žiūra, cl; Andrius Žiūra, cl; Karolis Kolakauskas, cl; Rima Chačaturian, pno; Raimondas Sviackevičius, acc; Tomas Kulikauskas, perc; Vilija Gencevičiūtė, harp; Ieva Sipaitytė, vno; Robertas Bliškevičius, vla; Vita Šiugždinienė, vc; Danielius Rubinas, cb

Rita Balta, s; Rita Mačiliūnaitė, ms

Vykintas Baltakas, cond.

Ö1 broadcasts last year’s performance of Music for Orchestra II and a composer portrait of the artist on 2 April, starting at 23:03 (CEST). Listen to a live stream of the show.

Jay Schwartz talks about Music for Orchestra II:

Jay Schwartz: Music for Orchestra II
Composer portrait
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, cond. Brad Lubman
Tuesday, 2 April, 23:03 | Ö1
Listen live

Commissioned by the Sociedad Estatal Acción Cultura Espagñola, Sotelo composed Luz sobre lienzo in honour of the 200th anniversary of the 1812 Cádiz Constitution. He was inspired by the allegory La Verdad, el Tiempo y la Historia [“Truth, Time and History”], which refers to the eponymous painting Goya made for the 1812 occasion (the painting is now on display in the Stockholm National Museum). The three figures in the painting – apparently shrouded in a strange veil of light – are represented in the piece by a violin (Truth), a cajón (Time), and dance (History). Live electronics replace the eerie “light,” the entirety scenically presented by unconventional interpreters.

The group includes Patricia Kopachinskaya, the internationally celebrated Moldavian violinist (who recently gave the premiere performance of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in Austria, where it was received enthusiastically by the public and critics alike), “La Moneta” (the flamenco dancer who enjoyed great success at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam and the Teatro Real opera house in Madrid when she performed in Sotelo’s Muerte sin fin), Agustin Diaserra playing the flamenco cajón and Fernando Villanueva, in charge of the light projections – both the latter having always been part of the composer’s recent pieces.

Watch the full performance online: