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)

Miroslav Srnka’s move 03 for large orchestra will be premiered at the Printemps des Arts in Monte-Carlo on 2 April. move 03 belongs to a series of short orchestral pieces which Srnka has been working on since 2015. Miroslav Srnka: “Initially I started from a loose combination of pieces in the tradition of symphonic dances.  ‘move’ is also reminiscent of ‘movement’ – the English name for a symphonic setting. Of the three existing moves, move 03 is closest to such a ‘movement’. It is the most independent of the three pieces, because it is also the most heterogeneous …”. The premiere with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice is conducted by Pierre-André Valade. – (photo: Vojtĕch Havlík)

Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini’s third opera follows on from his earlier works with a subject full of archaic power. Edward II was commissioned by the Deutsche Oper Berlin and receives its first performance on 19 February 2017. The opera tells a story from the England of the 14th century about King Edward II, who ruled for twenty unhappy years and left a country in chaos. Power struggles, affairs and intrigues about Edward’s homosexual relationships provide a theatrical subject matter for a drama of relationships and politics. Following Scartazzini’s successful collaboration with the librettist Thomas Jonigk on Der Sandmann, the team comes together again with director Christof Loy for this production. Thomas Søndergård conducts.

For the anniversary year “Luther 2017. 500 Jahre Reformation" Charlotte Seither has composed Inschrift for choir and orchestra, a commentary on Bach’s cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden  BWV 4. It can be performed following on from this cantata, but also as an independent work, and is scored for the same forces as the original work (choir and strings), with the addition of two recorders and (several) trombones playing the chorale melody. The premiere on 30 April in the Erlöserkirche Herten/Recklinghausen will be given by the Hertener Kantorei with members of the Dortmund Philharmonie conducted by Elke Cernysev. – (photo: Marco Bussmann)

Jetzt und in der Stunde des Todes is the subtitle of Heinz Winbeck’s monumental Symphony No. 5, his composition based on Bruckner lasting almost an hour. The three movements using motifs, especially from the Finale of Anton Bruckner’s 9th Symphony, are not in fact one of the many speculative attempts to complete the magnificent torso, but a musical paraphrase on material from the sketches. Without quoting from it literally, Bruckner’s music is constantly present. The work receives its German premiere at the 2017 Ultraschall Festival in Berlin on 22 January, performed by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester under Dennis Russell Davies. – In the same concert Marisol Montalvo will sing in „tríptico vertical“ by Philipp Maintz.

The combination of clarinet and string quartet, epitomised by such famous predecessors as Mozart, Brahms and others, is explored afresh by Beat Furrer: “A temporality stretched to the extremes – the clarinet is integrated into the sound of the string quartet. In a constant accelerando, different aspects of the sound of the clarinet are brought into focus, with the clarinettist speaking vowels into the instrument, producing an inharmonious, complex, speech-like sound.”

The first run of performances has taken place, and what remains are memories of two magnificent hours of contemporary music theatre. Miroslav Srnka’s South Pole was widely acclaimed. A look back.