For a while, it seemed like house plants would permanently occupy the place of audiences, and that listeners in evening dress would continue to arrange themselves on plush armchairs at home. This situation is hopefully behind us (for the time being), but live concerts remain the exception in many counties. Many houses and festivals are implementing social distancing rules with creative ideas for new formats – and with plenty of solidarity with composers. The Gürzenich Orchestra commissioned Georg Friedrich Haas, Enno Poppe, Liza Lim, and others to write short fanfares for brass – fittingly prolific aerosol producers!

During the pandemic, Huang Ruo has created an extraordinary work with A Dust in Time: Passacaglia for Strings. The composer is already collaborating with top-drawer partners for his project, including Asko | Schoenberg, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Del Sol Quartet, who will perform the work in autumn 2020 and spring 2021. 

Silvia Colasanti, Fabio Vacchi, and Marco Betta have written works for voice and ensemble in commissions for the Societá del Quartetto di Milano. And in the summer, Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal and the Theatre de Châtelet used online festivals to counter the impotent silence of the halls.

Societá del Quartetto di Milano presents Colasanti, Vacchi, Betta and Boccadoro

In Italy, chamber music gets back on track! Società del Quartetto di Milano’s season opens tonight with Canto della rinascita (Song of rebirth). An entire program of world premieres, featuring nine contemporary Italian composers, who were asked to give voice to a “choral meditation” on life. New works by Marco Betta, Carlo Boccadoro, Silvia Colasanti and Fabio Vacchi will be performed by Sentieri Selvaggi, conducted by Carlo Boccadoro.

Silvia Colasanti

Nove marzo duemilaventi (2020)
for reciting voice and ensemble
voce rec.fl.cl.perc.vl.vc
World premiere: 3. October 2020, Milan
Duration: 8‘

Fabio Vacchi

Par les soirs bleus d'été (2020)
for voice and ensemble
vx.fl.cl.perc..vl.vc.pf
World premiere: 3. October 2020, Milan
Duration: 6’

Marco Betta

Abbraccio (2020)
Madrigal for soprano, mezzo soprano and ensemble
vx.cl.vl.vc.vibr.pf
World premiere: 3. October 2020, Milan
Duration: 5‘

Carlo Boccadoro

Dopo (2020)
for ensemble
bfl.2tri picc.2crotali.tri med
World premiere: 3. October 2020, Milan
Duration: 5’

Huang Ruo A Dust in Time

During the pandemic, Huang Ruo has created an extraordinary work with A Dust in Time: Passacaglia for Strings. It can be performed in three versions with different instrumentations, durations and concert formats – from string quartet to string orchestra, as part of an installation or streamed completely digitally. The composer is already collaborating with top-drawer partners for his project, including Asko | Schoenberg, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Del Sol Quartet, who will perform the work in autumn 2020 and spring 2021. So far, more than 10 performances are planned worldwide. It is our hope that more organizations join in the performance of this work when the world needs music most. 

Huang Ruo has dedicated A Dust in Time in its entirety to mankind: “No matter who you are and where you are, we are all affected by this apparently endless pandemic.  Most of us have experienced moments during this global crisis where time and space seem to be slowed or frozen.  For some of us, memories, feelings, and lives are forever trapped in that slowly frozen time and space.  This ongoing crisis has affected our current life and maybe even our life in the future.  This special piece is created for the people affected by the pandemic, giving them a piece of music to reflect, to express, to heal, to find internal peace, strength, and hope.”

Huang Ruo

A Dust in Time (2020)
for string orchestra, string ensemble or string quartet
Duration: 32’ (short version), 60' (original version), 120' (long version)

Fanfares for a new Beginning – pre-concert series of the Gürzenich Orchestra

Haas’ fanfare hope. saw its premiere on September 13, 2020, by the Gürzenich Orchestra at the Kölner Philharmonie. Along with other #coronacommissions – also to Enno Poppe, Liza Lim und Philippe Manoury – the orchestra wants to send a message of new departures and hope under the title “Fanfares for a New Beginning.” With support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the compositions will be presented during the 2020/21 season as openers before each symphony concert.

Georg Friedrich Haas

hope. (2020)
for ensemble
4.3.3.1 - 1-3 percussionists 
World premiere: 13. September 2020, Cologne
Duration: 5'

Past events

Liza Lim

Liza Lim dedicates her work Dianna not only to the Roman goddess of hunting, but also to the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s solo hornist, Dianna Gaetjens, who performed the piece for an online premiere filmed by a river at the foot of Mount Ainslie. 

Dianna (2020)
for horn
World premiere: 05. August 2020, Canberra
Duration: 2‘



„We spoke about the story of Diana from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, in which Actaeon spied on the naked bathing goddess who, in her fury, turned him into a deer to be torn apart by his own hunting dogs. This led into a conversation about the horn as an instrument indigenous to forest hunting cultures in Southern Germany and about some of her favourite repertoires: the Green Book of horn quartets which includes hunting tunes, the horn opening of Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel, and famous solos by Ravel and Messiaen.”

Pierre Boulez Saal: A Festival of New Music

After its coronavirus closure, Daniel Barenboim and Emmanuel Pahud invited listeners to a festive comeback in a virtual Pierre Boulez Saal. They included a whole series of #coronacommissions in their digital “Festival of New Music,” including our composers Luca Francesconi, Philippe Manoury, Olga Neuwirth, Benjamin Attahir, and Christian Rivet. The chamber concerts can still be watched in the organizer’s media library.

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Théâtre du Châtelet und Ensemble intercontemporain: Digital festival « Après, demain »

In July, the Théâtre du Châtelet has organised its first digital festival "Après, demain" ["After, tomorrow"], a multidisciplinary festival that combines both foresight and creation. No less than twenty world premieres have been commissioned by composers such as Hèctor Parra, Philippe Manoury, Joan Magrané-Figuera and Luca Francesconi. The digital concerts have been performed by the Ensemble intercontemporain and Matthias Pintscher upon their post-confinement return to a prestigious venue in Paris.

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