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Directed by the Composer, Chaya Czernowin's The Redheaded Man Premiered by hand werk at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik

Apr. 20, 2026

On April 25, Chaya Czernowin directs the ensemble hand werk in the premiere of her new music theatre work, The Redheaded Man »…and then I realised that I am the world, but the world is not me« followed by a second performance of the piece on April 26 at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik where Czernowin is composer-in-residence. Czernowin notes:

"This work is a staged sonic performance located in the tension between the poetic and the mundane, the mysterious and the funny or the absurd. It integrates composed music, theatrical presence, choreographed movement, and light into a unified form of expression—where gesture, sound, and space interact continuously and theatrically at times in an almost ceremonial way.

The piece is structured around five brief texts by Russian absurdist Daniil Kharms, whose deadpan, fragmentary writings expose cracks in everyday logic. These texts appear not as narration but as tonal ruptures – infusing the performance with disorientation, black humor, and existential sharpness. There is no singer – they will be spoken but the instruments will “speak” them as well.

In today’s world, where reality often resists coherent framing, absurdity becomes a strangely lucid way of listening—one that reflects rather than resolves, disturbs the illogical rather than explains it." 

Additionally, the festival will feature numerous other performances of Chaya Czernowin’s music:

On April 24, Klangforum Wien, conducted by Elena Schwarz and featuring Evan Hulbert as soloist, performs Seltene Erde: alchimia communicationis for ensemble and double bass. On April 26, the Quatuor Diotima will perform the string quartet Ezov (Hyssop), composed in 2023/24, and in the same concert, Noa Frenkel and the SWR Experimentalstudio will present Shu Hai practices javelin for voice and electronics (1996/97). The WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yalda Zamani and soprano Sofia Jernberg close the festival with another recent work by Chaya Czernowin: No! A Lament for the Innocent for amplified soprano, ensemble and recorded accompaniment. Czernowin explains the inspiration behind the work:

"This piece is both a protest and a lament. I conceived it during the period of parent-child separations during the first Trump regime and wrote the work during the terrible and horrendous events in the Middle East which came to a head in 2023/2024 – with so many deaths and crimes against humanity affecting so many innocent people. I am an Israeli-born composer and am protesting intensely and in pain against the killing of so many innocent people by our army and the fact that there are such a huge number of dead children, children without parents and children without limbs in Gaza. I thought that this piece would be a loud scream – it ended up more like a lament."

NO! is an LA Phil co-commission with Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester, and Narodowej Orkiestry Symfonicznej Polskiego Radia, with generous support from the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund.

To learn more about Chaya Czernowin, visit schott-music.com.

Chaya Czernowin
The Readheaded Man (2025-2026)
Synesthetic listening event
for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello and sampler (pre-recordings)
Texts by Daniil Kharms from The Blue Notebook
48'
View the score

Ezov (Hyssop) (2024)
String Quartet No. 4
24'

Seltene Erde: alchimia communicationis (2022)
for ensemble and a double bass solo with its own recording
31'

Shu Hai Practices Javelin (2000-2001)
for female singer, her recorded voice, orchestra and live electronics
30'

NO! (2023-2024)
A Lament for the Innocent
Version I: For one amplified high soprano and twenty-four musicians with tape
Version II: For two amplified high sopranos and two antiphonal orchestras of twenty-four musicians
17'
Preview the score

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