The Gewandhausorchester will present the world premiere of Fabio Vacchi’s Der Walddämon under the baton of Riccardo Chailly on January 29, 2015 (additional performances on 30 and 31).

On our blog, our contemporary composers present their favorite work from our catalogs. This time: Hans-Jürgen von Bose introduces György Kurtág‘s …quasi una fantasia….

In November 2014 the German collecting society GEMA conducted a survey for its magazine Virtuos. They asked selected musicians about their childhood memories regarding Christmas. Here is Sergej Newski’s comment.

Edgard Varèse died on November 6, 1965 in New York at the age of 81. To honour the 50th anniversary of his death, the Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by Fabio Luisi, will perform Ameriques on January 12 in its first concert for 2015. January will also see several other performances of works by Varèse, including Tuning up in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris. Get more information about Varèse in this text.

On our blog, our contemporary composers present their favorite work from our catalogs. This time: Robert HP Platz introduces Klaus Huber‘s Erniedrigt – Geknechtet – Verlassen – Verachtet... .

As part of the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, the Orchestre National de Belgique and the music department of the Palais des Beaux-Arts have commissioned Matteo Franceschini to write A memoria d’eco. The world premiere will be performed on 5 December 2014 in Brussels under the direction of Dima Slobodeniouk.

From our Repertoire is a blog category featuring knowledgeable commentary on works from our diverse catalogues. We will introduce you on a regular basis to not only the best-known compositions but also to niche works that we think deserve a little more attention.

This time: Gérard Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques.

Armin Köhler died in the night of November 15, 2014.

Klaus Huber celebrates his 90th birthday

One of the first anti-war films in history, Maudite soit la guerre (War is Hell) was made in 1914 shortly before the First World War. Now Olga Neuwirth has composed music for the silent movie. The Ensemble 2e2m performs the world premiere in conjunction with the film in Paris on November 10 and then takes the project on tour to France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. “You always need to remember the past! That is the only way that we could learn something”, says Olga Neuwirth in our interview.