"You won’t leave the venue humming a tune, that’s for sure. But the molecules in your body may be permanently rearranged." (Sequenza21)

Two major works by Georg Friedrich Haas, 11.000 Saiten (11,000 Strings) and …wie aus einer andren Welt…, were recently performed in New York City to great acclaim.

11,000 Strings, Haas’ groundbreaking microtonal work involving 50 pianos tuned in microtonal increments along with a large ensemble, received its long awaited North American premiere at the Park Avenue Armory on September 30th, performed by Klangforum Wien under the direction of Bas Wiegers. The project continues its journey around the globe with performances at the Hangzhou Contemporary Music Festival in China in October 2025. The portrait festival features Haas and fellow Ricordi composer Francesco Filidei with several works presented by Klangforum Wien and others.

Haas’ new a-capella work for choir, …wie aus seiner andren Welt…, received its world premiere by ensemble ekmeles at New York’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music on September 27th. The innovative work explores new harmonic paths of sixth-tone microtonality within the intimate sphere of unaccompanied voices. 

Press quotes on 11,000 Strings

"When the pianos enter, it’s with a soft thunder under the chord, so subtle that audiences may not realize it’s happening until the sound gathers overwhelming force. That’s far from the last moment Haas’s score teases the ear: The spatial and musical effects at work have the power to create a kind of tingling sensation that tantalizes you over the course of 66 minutes. Listening to “11,000 Strings” can feel like entering a busy hive or being taunted by an elusive sprite, coming at you from all sides and in constant motion."

"Five stars for 11,000 Strings played on 50 pianos in New York [...] Georg Friedrich Haas’s microtonal work brings an astonishing palette of colours and sounds to the Park Avenue Armory [...] Haas has a sure sense of drama, so there’s an ebb and flow that almost suggests a narrative. At the beginning, for example, pure tonal harmonies kissed by angelic strumming from the harp are dispelled by the visceral rumbling of 50 pianos in their lowest register. And he shows he has a sense of humour as well. About halfway through, the pianos start playing big tonal chords resulting in an effect that’s rather like hearing a clown car’s worth of virtuosi reflected in an acoustic funhouse mirror. [...] As I was leaving the Armory I heard one audience member describe the music as “trippy”. They’re not wrong, but 11,000 Strings is often surprisingly beautiful, too — and strangely moving."


"But this was not nausea. Instead, it was a pleasant vibration deep in my chest, bringing a sense of anticipation and occasionally excitement. The overall aural effect was cinematic and evoked visual images like a swarm of cicadas, the spookiness of a horror film, mysterious anticipation and thunderous cacophony. […] The fact that the Armory could create so much buzz around this avant-garde novelty piece and attract thousands to come experience it is impressive. It does seem like a lot of effort for an hour of music. You won’t leave the venue humming a tune, that’s for sure. But the molecules in your body may be permanently rearranged."

"Mr. Haas, a 72-year-old, Austrian-born professor of composition at Columbia University, has clearly studied an enormous amount of 20th-century and contemporary music, and yet “11,000 Strings” is very much his own. There is nothing quite like it: At times I felt as though I were greeting a gigantic, seemingly friendly-ish alien creature that I’d never imagined but was now embracing me from all sides. [...] I was absolutely content wherever I was, happily lost, cheerfully but never desperately interested in what might come next. There are no real “tunes” here: It commits to no steady musical grammar. Rather, imagine a succession of cloud sounds that gradually pass over and through you"
Find out more about 11,000 Strings here.