On 20 June the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy presents the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Il medico dei pazzi, a comic opera loosely based on Edoardo Scarpetta’s Neapolitan comedy of the same name. The libretto was written by the composer. On stage there will be 11 singers and a chorus, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta. The stage direction is by Carlos Wagner.

Two important premieres are coming up for Luca Francesconi in June: First, Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct the world premiere of the orchestra piece Dentro non ha tempo at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Second, the Royal Opera House in London will present a new production of his opera Quartett. Click here for more information and a video trailer about Quartett.

Gerhard Stäbler’s new music theatre piece about Albert Einstein combines elements of farce, performance, opera and choreographic theatre. Erlöst Albert E. will be premiered on June 26 at Theater Ulm, which commissioned the work.

Nikolaus Brass’s new chamber music theatre piece deals with the subject of the isolation and speechlessness of the modern man. Sommertag is commissioned by the Siemens Musikstiftung and will be premiered on May 12 at Schwere Reiter.

The Weaver’s Knot is written for the 40th anniversary of the Arditti Quartet. It is a string quartet based on aspects of hardanger fiddle playing. 

When Giacomo Meyerbeer died on May 2 in 1864 in Paris, he was one of the most performed composers of his time. In the last decades, his music has been enjoying a renaissance. Get more information on Meyerbeer in this contribution by Reinhold Quandt, Editor of the Critical Meyerbeer Edition.

In our new series „10 Recommendations“ we periodically present 10 works from our catalogue bound together by genre or a theme that we want to highlight for various reasons. These works have either been extraordinarily successful, or can be unknown works by a well-known composer; in other cases it can be a composition by an unknown artist that simply deserves more attention or it is a work which could benefit of a present day interpretation.

Sergej Newski receives one of Russia’s most prestigious cultural awards: the Golden Mask 2014. The Berlin-based composer is awarded for his opera Franziskus, which was premiered at the Bolschoi theatre in 2012.

The Paul Sacher Foundation has recently acquired a new collection of documents on contemporary music: the musical manuscripts of the composer Younghi Pagh-Paan. The collection of sketches, drafts, and fair copies of Pagh-Paan's works will be supplemented with further documents on an ongoing basis and immediately made available to scholars at the Foundation's archive in Basel.

Sergej Newsi’s opera Franziskus was premiered at the Bolschoi theatre in Moscow in 2012. This performance is now nominated for the Russian National Theatre Award “Golden Mask” in four categories.