Music for strings is a continuous field of experimentation for Miroslav Srnka, one in which he explores complex structures. He has again written his new String Quartet for the Quatuor Diotima, which premieres the work at the “Biennale de Quatuors à cordes” in Paris. In this work, Srnka analyses the traditional roles of the structure of the musicians’ parts. He calls it future family, a hint about the conception of the work: “Are the instruments in the string quartet just voices and the musicians just roles? Can the musicians become voices and the instruments take roles?” The première on 15 January is followed by further territorial premieres on 24/25 January in Brussels and at the String Quartet Festival Heidelberg.

In 1958 Jean Barraqué composed music for a project for the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ which never made it to the stage. 60 years later it is now finally receiving its première in Vienna.

Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini has composed his first String Quartet for the Quatuor Diotima. The Swiss composer, a genuine dramatist who has concentrated on music theatre and vocal music in his work to date, has conceived his quartet as a musical narrative. The first performance takes place on 24.10.2017 in Basel in the Oekolampad Church with the Quatuor Diotima, followed by performances in Orléans, Arras and Bern. Before that, on 15.10.2017, Scartazzini’s ensemble work Kassiopeia receives its German premiere in the Philharmonie Cologne, given by the Ensemble Modern conducted by Paul Daniel.

It’s very much alive, the art form of opera. Contemporary music theatre fills the theatres, like grand opera for a large audience.

Philipp Maintz has composed hängende gärten for large orchestra for the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin – an evocative allusion to the gardens of Babylon which Nebuchadnezzar II had built for his wife Semiramis. “It is precisely this image which for me best fits with the idea of this orchestral piece”, says the composer: “a park in which you can plant, garden, tend and see plants growing (yes, actually write ‘music from music’) – yet also a ‘garden of longing’ in which things should flower beautifully, but also run wild.” The first performance is on 28 May 2017 in the Philharmonie Berlin conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

A veritable premiere of an orchestral piece found amongst Jean Barraqué’s unpublished works, and now newly edited, will take place in Cologne: the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne under Jean-Michaël Lavoie performs Melos, a ballet music, which was entered for the Prix Biarritz in 1951. The scenario by Marie-Laure de Noailles tells of a young man’s search for the ideal art, which can easily be translated to the situation of the young composer – and culminates in an apotheosis of music. The reconstruction of the incomplete orchestration by Laurent Feneyrou, Aurélien Maestracci and Frédéric Durieux will be performed on 24 June 2017 as part of “Musik der Zeit” in the Cologne WDR Funkhaus.

Manfred Trojahn’s great composition for soloists, choral groups and ensemble, Les dentelles de Montmirail receives its premiere at the Festival “Acht Brücken” in Cologne on 1 May. It is part of his cycle Quitter after René Char. The “Dentelles de Montmirail” is a mountain range near Mont Ventoux, which René Char took as the theme for his third last poem in his cycle. Of the eight poems, Trojahn has already set four to music and premiered these. With this poem, the most extensive section now follows, both in terms of scoring and of length. The premiere will be given by the Vokalsolisten Köln and Ensemble Modern conducted by Duncan Ward. – (photo: Dietlind Konold)