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Salzburg Festival Features Birtwistle’s Gawain and Premieres by Hosokawa, Pintscher, Baltakas, Staud, Schwartz & Cerha

Jun. 27, 2013

Salzburg Festival Features Birtwistle’s <em>Gawain</em> and Premieres by Hosokawa, Pintscher, Baltakas, Staud, Schwartz & Cerha

The Salzburg Festival presents the first opera of its 2013 summer season in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Gawain on July 26. Conducted by Ingo Metzmacher and directed by Alvis Hermanis with a libretto by David Harsent, Gawain is a gripping recounting of the medieval Arthurian epic and has been hailed as a landmark of 20th-century opera for its delicate balance between the poles of the familiar canon and the avant-garde.

The 2013 festival focuses a light on contemporary music influenced by the art and culture of Japan as part of its Salzburg Contemporary series, beginning on July 22. In eleven different performances, the festival explores the significance of spirituality and culture as factors of inspiration in modern music. Toshio Hosokawa, whose music is regarded for its innovative fusion of European avant-garde and traditional Japanese art music, is a featured composer. Hosokawa’s works on the series include New Seeds of Contemplation and Voyage X - Nozarashi, which both characterize the composer’s novel use of traditional Japanese musical forms such as shômyô chant and gagaku court music. Additionally, Hosokawa sees the world premiere of a new wind quintet, Ancient Voices, on August 14 by the Ensemble WienBerlin,and Lamentation for soprano and orchestra, with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and soprano Anna Prohaska, on August 25.

On August 24, Salzburg Contemporary presents a concert of new works commissioned in collaboration with the Salzburg Art Project. Featuring the Scharoun Ensemble conducted by Matthias Pintscher, the program features music inspired by the work of twelve different artists with world premieres of Johannes Maria Staud’s on “Cladera” by Anthony Cragg, Vykintas Baltakas’s on “Beyond Recall” by Brigitte Kowanz, Jay Schwartz’s M (on “Mozart – Eine Hommage” by Markus Lüpertz), and Matthias Pintscher’s on “A.E.I.O.U” by AnselmKiefer. Additionally, composer Friedrich Cerha sees the premiere of his piece Étoile in a performance led by Martin Grubinger and The Percussive Planet Ensemble. Étoile, a chamber work written for six percussionists, is to be performed on August 3.

More detailed information about the Salzburg Festival and concerts can be found at www.salzburgerfestspiele.at.

To learn more about composers Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Johannes Maria Staud, Vykintas Baltakas, Jay Schwartz, and Friedrich Cerha, go to www.universaledition.com, and for more information on Toshio Hosokawa, visit www.schott-music.com.

Read about the life and work of Matthias Pintscher at www.bärenreiter.com and www.matthiaspintscher.com.

Toshio Hosokawa
New Seeds of Contemplation (1995)
for shômyô and gagaku ensemble
50’

Voyage X – Nozarashi (2009)
for shakuhachi and ensemble
1(pic).1.2(2.bcl).1-1.1.1.1-2perc-hp-str(1.1.1.1.1)
17’

Jay Schwartz
M (2013)
for baritone and ensemble
1.1.1.1-1.1.1.0 –perc, pno, str
12’

Friedrich Cerha
Étoile (2012)
for six percussionists
20’

Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Gawain (1990/1991, rev. 1994/1999)
opera in two acts
libretto (Eng) by David Harsent
3.3.3.3-4.3.3.3-timp.3perc-hp.cemb-str
180’

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