A ten-minute orchestral tutti, comprising an “archaic unison movement” and “iambic percussive accents”, opens the single movement First Symphony by Heinz Winbeck with almost elemental power. This is followed by more peaceful passages, but the basic mood of the music remains anxious and driven. In between, allusions to, or direct quotations from Gustav Mahler’s 3rd and 10th Symphonies are constantly heard, as an expression in sound of longing and evocation of a different, more humane world. Heinz Winbeck (1946–2019) ambiguously named his First Symphony “Tu solus”, which refers firstly to the Gloria of the Catholic rite, but secondly to the absolute isolation in the sense of “you are alone”, and dedicated it “to the memory of Sophie Scholl”.

Miroslav Srnka’s orchestral work “Superorganisms” will be premiered by the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ryan Wigglesworth in Tokyo on 27 June 2023 after the scheduled premiere in Berlin had to be postponed due to illness. Superorganisms are forms of existence in which kindred beings work together synergistically and in a self-organized manner. An example for superorganisms in human culture are symphony orchestras – and this is where Miroslav Srnka’s new work comes in.

Miroslav Srnka has composed a concerto for the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and the Gürzenich-Orchester Cologne. François-Xavier Roth conducts the world premiere of "Standstill" on 11 September in Cologne. Three questions on his new work to the composer.

A commission from the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Cologne “Eight Bridges” Festival offers a glimpse into the world of the complete “other”: in Beat Furrer’s “VI Gesänge für Vokalensemble und Orchester” to texts by the Argentinian writer Sara Gallardo someone speaks who is at a crossroads, who knows about a secret life of things. Its songs are entreaties, they call to the different woods, the animals, the messengers “of the one who just is, who was never born and will never die”.

This is the title of one of many concerts for Dieter Ammann’s special birthday. On 26 May 2022 the Basel Sinfonietta under Baldur Brönnimann performs the Violin Concerto “unbalanced instability” with violinist Simon Zgraggen plus the orchestral triptych “Core – Turn – Boost”. Two concerts with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Michael Sanderling feature “Boost” on 11 and 12 May, and on 31 May 2022 the programme includes “glut”, “Venite a dire. Raummusik”, and a world premiere of the “Morceau en forme d’improvisation”.

A glimpse into the not-too-distant future: In their new opera "Singularity," composer Miroslav Srnka and author Tom Holloway dramatize mind games about computerized people, updates, and human and technical malfunctions. Their opera is a fast-paced play with set pieces of the cyber world, combining vision with farce and a glimpse into human abysses.  Expressly composed for young voices, “Singularity” was written for the opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Nicolas Brieger signed responsible for the production of the premiere on 5 June 2021 in the Cuvilliés Theatre, the Klangforum Wien played under the baton of Patrick Hahn. The opera was performed both live and per live-stream. The live-stream is still accessible. "Singularity" is the third opera by Miroslav Srnka and Tom Holloway commissioned by the Bavarian State Opera, following “Make No Noise” and “South Pole”.

On 24 March, a few months before his 90th birthday, Rudolf Kelterborn passed away in Basel. On 3 September 2021, the Swiss composer, music educator, teacher and mentor of contemporary music would have celebrated this special birthday.