More than half of the “Mahler/Scartazzini Cycle” has already been performed in Jena: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini’s “Einklang” as well as the premiere of “Omen” and No. 6 can be heard in Jena on 23 March 2023; on 12 May 2023 part 7 of the cycle will have its first performance. The project which was initiated by Simon Gaudenz and the Jenaer Philharmonie began in 2018 and will be completed in 2025. Gustav Mahler and his works are, in Scartazzini’s words, “a counterpart that speaks to me even over a distance of more than 100 years … their world of thought, their construction, a certain movement; all these are impulses that in the end lead me to my own musical work.” The result is a colourful cycle of quite differing compositions. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Michael Sanderling will premiere yet another commissioned work by Scartazzini, “WUNDE(R)” für Orchester in Lucerne on 12 April 2023 and then take it on tour to Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover and Cologne. (photo: LA Consulting)

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.

The rental material of the renowned music publisher Ut Orpheus Edizioni, founded and based in Bologna in 1993, will now be distributed worldwide by Alkor-Edition, with the exception of Italy. The attractive catalogue, dedicated primarily to early music, includes the complete editions of Francesco Geminiani, Luigi Boccherini (portrait) and Muzio Clementi. Of particular interest is the “Napoli e l‘Europa” series initiated by Riccardo Muti, featuring previously unpublished operas and oratorios of the Neapolitan School, including “I due Figaro” by Saverio Mercadante and “Demofoonte” by Niccoló Jommelli, A real gem is the Dramma per musica “Francesca da Rimini” by Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870), premiered in 2016 at the Festival della Valle d'Itria Martina Franca. It will be performed for the first time beyond the Alps in the current season as a co-production of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl and Oper Frankfurt, in Erl from 28 December 2022, in Frankfurt from 26 February 2023.

This new publication offers a source-critical edition of Mozart’s fragmentary “Requiem” (Bärenreiter-Verlag) as well as an alternative to the traditional Süßmayr version. When completing the fragment, the editor Michael Ostrzyga drew on comprehensive comparative and analytical studies of Mozart’s church style and compositional workmanship. The influence of Handel and Bach manifested in his final years, particularly in the “Requiem” fragment, is taken into account in those sections requiring completion or fresh composition. At two points readers may choose between alternative movements (or sections), since proceeding from Süßmayr’s historical version, two divergent options cannot be weighed against each other but each one may well reflect Mozart’s intentions. The new completion offers choirs and orchestras the opportunity to perform this legendary work in a well thought through version based on the most up-to-date research.

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.

To celebrate the 200th birthday of the Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg in 1884 Edvard Grieg was commissioned to write an open-air cantata for the ceremony. But he also refers to Holberg in his instrumental music. The result was a “powdered wig piece” (as Grieg wrote to his publisher) that hearkens back to Holberg’s era – a historicising suite of baroque dances for piano, ranging from an exhilarating prelude and several dance numbers to a Bachian “air” and an impetuous “rigaudon”. Later Grieg arranged his suite for string orchestra. This version became one of his most popular compositions. For the new scholarly-critical Urtext edition (Bärenreiter-Verlag) Christoph Rinne-Schroeder has meticulously examined the original print and compared it with previously neglected performance material annotated by Grieg himself.

The return to life is the evocative title of this year’s Festival Berlioz in the composer’s birthplace of La Côte-Saint-André. In the second half of August leading Berlioz interpreters such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Francois-Xavier Roth, Jérémy Rhorer, John Nelson and Valery Gergiev perform key works from Berlioz’s output including Les Troyens à Carthage, La Damnation de Faust, L’Enfance du Christ, Requiem, Symphonie fantastique, Lelio ou Le retour à la vie and Les nuits d’été. The fact that music can finally be performed again after a long period of enforced silence is also another reason for traditional summer festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Glyndebourne, Munich, Salzburg and Lucerne – to name just the most prominent – to celebrate. Bärenreiter features many times with its critical new editions and performance material of Baroque and classical-romantic operas, and in addition, first performances of new concert works by Beat Furrer and Miroslav Srnka feature. Here is an overview of dates. Please check these with the respective organisers beforehand.