01/29/2013

Rhapsody for a Publisher

Mikis Theodorakis' Rhapsody for String Orchestra , dedicated to his publisher and long-time supporter Peter Hanser-Strecker (pictured, at right), will be premiered on 30 January 2013 during a portrait concert of the composer in Athens under conductor Miltos Logiades, with the renowned ERT National ...

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01/29/2013

John Casken Lecture: The Grit in the Oyster

On 28 November 2012, composer and Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Manchester John Casken delivered a lecture on the state of contemporary classical music at the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. The transcript for the lecture, "Contemporary Classical ...

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01/28/2013

Work of the Week - Richard Wagner / Henk de Vlieger: The Ring

2013 marks Richard Wagner’s bicentenary, which will not only feature his major operas, but also works inspired by him. Dutch composer and percussionist Henk De Vlieger is well-known for his reworkings of Wagner’s music dramas Meistersinger – An Orchestral Tribute , Tristan und Isolde – ...

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01/21/2013

Work of the Week - Douglas J. Cuomo: Doubt

The Minnesota Opera presents the world premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo’s Doubt on January 26, 2013. With a libretto by John Patrick Shanley based on his Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a battle of wills ignited at a Bronx Catholic School in 1964, the opera was commissioned ...

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01/16/2013

Gavin Bryars - 70th birthday

Today we celebrate Gavin Bryars' 70th birthday.  As an internationally renowned composer, Bryars has continually shunned convention choosing to create his own distinctive and unique path; he studied philosophy at Sheffield University and became both a professional jazz bassist and pioneer of ...

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01/14/2013

Work of the Week - Peter Eötvös: DoReMi

On 18 January 2013, Peter Eötvös' second Violin Concerto, DoReMi , will be premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles by conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with soloist Midori. Eötvös’ first violin concerto Seven (2007) is programmatically ...

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01/14/2013

Gerald Barry's Jabberwocky Premieres in Brighton

Gerald Barry’s new work for voice, horn and piano, Jabberwocky , debuts on January 20 in Brighton, UK. An intense and surreal musical narrative, so apparent in Barry’s hugely successful opera The Importance of Being Earnest, returns in a new guise in this, the composer’s latest vocal work. Setting ...

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01/14/2013

Andrew Norman's In Transition Debuts with Ensemble Berlin

On December 17, 2012, Andrew Norman’s new ensemble work In Transition received its world premiere by the Ensemble Berlin in Germany. Commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, the 20-minute septet is scored for oboe, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass. Norman’s new work explores the ...

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01/14/2013

Jörg Widmann's Lied at The Cleveland Orchestra

On January 17 and 19, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in two performances of Jörg Widmann's vivid homage to Schubert, Lied . Commissioned by the Bamburg Symphony Orchestra, the 25-minute work premiered in December 2003 led by Jonathan Nott. Lied , or “Song”, was written in honor ...

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01/14/2013

Lee Hoiby's I Have A Dream in Seattle

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, King County in Washington presents a special performance of Lee Hoiby’s powerful MLK text setting,  I Have A Dream . King County’s 26th Annual MLK Jr. Celebration in downtown Seattle highlights Hoiby’s inspiring piece alongside performances of traditional ...

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