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Schott | EAM 2018-2019 Season Preview

Sep. 01, 2018

Schott | EAM  2018-2019 Season Preview

The season ahead is filled with thrilling world premieres and innovative productions of works in our catalogue both new and old. Composer Agata Zubel, pictured left, is just one of many of our composers with noteworthy premieres on their calendars. Read on for a sampling of this season's highlights. 

Thomas Adès
On March 8, Thomas Adès leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of his second piano concerto which he composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator.

Richard Ayres
The Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, led by Bas Wiegers and featuring bass Joshua Bloom, gave the world premiere of Richard Ayres’s No. 50 (The Garden) on September 5 in The Netherlands. The London Sinfonietta, led by Joana Carneiro, gives the UK premiere of this work on April 17, again featuring bass Joshoa Bloom. In addition, Ayres’s No. 49 for bass quintet and tape receives its world premiere by Ensemble Schwerpunkt on June 8.

Gerald Barry
Thomas Adès leads the Britten Sinfonia in the final year of its three-year Beethoven Symphony Cycle. Adès interleaves Beethoven’s masterworks with those of Gerald Barry. On May 21, Barry’s Dead March is performed alongside Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 7 and No. 8, and on May 26, Barry’s The Eternal Recurrence shares the program with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

George Benjamin
On April 7-20, the Staatsoper Hamburg presents George Benjamin’s powerful opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, which was premiered to great acclaim by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden last May. This production will be conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Katie Mitchell.

Gavin Bryars
On December 14, The Crossing (Donald Nally, conductor) presents the world premiere of a new work for a cappella choir by Gavin Bryars at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia. The Dutch National Ballet presents Bryars’s Requiem for orchestra, chorus and vocal soloists on February 9, with choreography by David Dawson, and led by conductor, Matthew Rowe. Additionally, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Bryars’s powerful work, The Sinking of the Titanic, for digital tape and ensemble.


John Casken
The Hallé Orchestra, led by conductor Jamie Phillips and featuring trombonist Katy Jones, presents the world premiere of John Casken’s Madonna of Silence for trombone and orchestra on February 28 at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

Friedrich Cerha
The ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, led by Duncan Ward, presents the world premiere of Freidrich Cerha’s Drei Situationen for string orchestra on November 2 at the Großer Saal at the Musikverein in Vienna.

Douglas J. Cuomo
The Young People’s Chorus of New York, led by Francisco J. Núñez, performs the world premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo’s What You Can Do For The World on November 3 at Merkin Hall. On November 7-10, Cuomo’s Savage Winter makes its NY debut at BAM's 2018 Next Wave Festival.

Chaya Czernowin
On October 13, the Pioneer Valley Symphony, led by Tian Hui Ng, performs the US premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s Once I blinked, nothing was the same.


Peter Eötvös
Joyce, written by Peter Eötvös for Jörg Widmann, receives its world premiere at the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Sala de Cámara in Madrid, Spain on February 9 by Widmann and the Cuarteto Quiroga. They perform the work again the following day at Diputación de Badajoz in Badajoz, Spain.

Beat Furrer
Matthias Pintscher conducts and Claus Guth directs the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s opera Violetter Schnee, with a libretto by Händl Klaus, at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden on January 13. Furrer recently won the coveted Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis in recognition of his lifetime achievements in music.

Charles Gounod
On April 12 and 14, Opera Omaha presents the first stage production of the original dialogue version of Gounod’s Faust, based on the new Bärenreiter Urtext edition. This volume is part of Bärenreiter’s L‘Opéra français series.

Toshio Hosokawa
The University of Toronto presents the Canadian premieres of The Raven and Futari Shizuka on January 17 at Walter Hall. In addition, the South Korean premiere of Futari Shizuka takes place in April as part of the Tongyoeng International Music Festival.

Vijay Iyer
Shamisen prodigy Hidejiro Honjoh will premiere a new work for solo shamisen at the Japan Society in New York on October 5.  Iyer, named “Artist of the Year” for the fourth time this decade by DownBeat Magazine, is also composing a new work for chamber orchestra which will receive its world premiere at a concert titled “The Edge of Jazz” on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series on January 15.

Noriko Koide
The Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Seitaro Ishikawa, presents the world premiere of a new orchestral piece by Noriko Koide for the "Hiroshima Happy New Ear" Festival on June 14.

Eugeniusz Knapik
The Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Choir, led by Jacek Kaspszyk, present the world premiere of Eugeniusz Knapik’s Blessing Gentle Breeze on October 5 in Warsaw, Poland.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Korngold's most successful opera, Die tote Stadt, was completed in 1919 and premiered in 1920. This season sees a number of exciting performances around the world including performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Enschede, Toulouse, Limoges, Bremen, Milan, and Wuppertal. Schott recently produced revised and newly-engraved orchestral material as well as an Eulenburg study score.

Thomas Larcher
On April 24, the New York Philharmonic, led by Semyon Bychkov, will present the US premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No. 2, “Kenotaph” at David Geffen Hall. Additional performances take place on April 25, 27, and 30.

Hannah Lash
The world premiere of Hannah Lash’s Songs of Imagined Love takes place on October 26 at Carnegie Hall, featuring Paul Appleby, tenor, and Natalia Katyukova, piano. Texts for the song cycle were written by the composer who was inspired by the poems of Ludwig Rellstab which Schubert set in his Schwanengesang. Songs of Imagined Love was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for tenor Paul Appleby.


Fred Lerdahl
On October 10, Columbia University's Department of Music presents a concert at Carnegie Hall in celebration of Fred Lerdahl, the Fritz Reiner Professor of Composition, who is retiring after 35 years of service on the Columbia faculty. The program features a selection of Lerdahl’s works, including the world premiere of Cyclic Descent for piano and large ensemble.

Lei Liang
The highly anticipated world premiere of Lei Liang’s opera, Inheritance, takes place on October 24 with repeat performances on October 26-27 at the Prebys Experimental Theater. This work, set to a libretto by Matt Donovan, will be led by music director Steven Schick and directed by Cara Consilvio. The performance features Grammy Award–winning soprano Susan Narucki in the lead role of Sarah Winchester.

Akira Nishimura
The New National Theatre in Tokyo presents the world premiere of Akira Nishimura’s opera, Asters on February 17. Kazushi Ono conducts and Yoshi Oida directs this production which runs through February 24.

Andrew Norman
On October 4-6, Gustavo Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere of Andrew Norman’s Sustain for orchestra. In January, the San Francisco Symphony, led by Christian Reif, performs the world premiere of a new cello concerto by Andrew Norman, featuring Johannes Moser as the soloist. In February, the cello concerto will be performed in Spain by the Orquesta Sinfonica Castilla y Leon, led by Andrew Gourlay, and in March by the New Jersey Symphony, led by Xian Zhang. Johannes Moser is again the featured soloist for these performances.


Tobias Picker
Opera Kansas presents Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox on September 22-23, conducted by Kenneth Tysick and directed by Ashley Winters. William Lumpkin conducts and Jim Petosa directs Picker’s Dolores Claiborne at the Boston University Opera Institute from February 21-24. On March 8-9, the Nashville Symphony, led by Giancarlo Guerrero, presents Picker’s The Encantadas with the composer as narrator.

Matthias Pintscher
On January 20 at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Matthias Pintscher conducts the world premiere of a new work for piano and ensemble that he composed for Daniel Barenboim and the Boulez Ensemble.


Krzysztof Penderecki
The celebrated composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, celebrates his 85th birthday on November 23 and a plethora of his works performed this season worldwide including the world premiere of Fanfare for the independent Poland on November 11 by the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra led by Tadeusz Strugała. This work was commissioned by PWM Edition as part of the project “100 for 100 Musical Decades of Freedom".

Wolfgang Rihm
Baritone Christian Gerhaher and pianist Gerold Huber give the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Tasso-Gedanken at the Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Portugal on November 26. The duo presents several national premieres of the work: in France on November 30, Italy on December 3, and Germany on December 12.

Camille Saint Saëns
The Metropolitan Opera presents a new production of Camille Saint Saëns’s masterpiece Samson et Dalila in repertoire from September 24 through March 28, conducted by Sir Mark Elder and directed by Darko Tresnjak. The Met's production will use the new Bärenreiter Urtext edition of the opera, part of the L‘Opéra français series.

Kenji Sakai
The Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, led by John Axelrod, gives the world premiere of composer-in-residence Kenji Sakai’s piano concerto on January 18 at the Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater, featuring pianist Mami Hagiwara as the soloist.

Fazil Say
Fazil Say’s Concerto for flute and orchestra receives its world premiere on October 4 by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra led by Sascha Goetzel and featuring flutist Bülent Evcil.

Howard Shore
The world premiere of Howard Shore’s Mass takes place on November 25 at St. Leodegar im Hof in Lucerne, Switzerland. The piece was written for Ludwig Wicki on the celebrated occasion of his 20th year as Kappellmeister of St. Leodegar im Hof. On May 1-2, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, led by Alexander Shelley, performs the world premiere of Shore’s The Forest: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, featuring soloist Miloš Karadaglić.

Kate Soper
New York's Miller Theatre presents a portrait concert of Kate Soper on October 27. The program features IPSA DIXIT performed by the composer and Wet Ink Ensemble, with direction by Ashley Tata at Soper’s Miller Theatre.  Soper’s The Ultimate Poem is Abstract (2016) for soprano and chamber ensemble is now available from PSNY.

Gregory Spears
On September 16, Vocal Arts DC presents the world premiere of Gregory Spears’s Walden, for baritone and piano. Based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau, the new song cycle is performed by baritone Brian Mulligan and pianist Timothy Long. Walden receives its New York debut on March 13 at the Baruch Performing Arts Center.

Miroslav Srnka
On November 13, Susanna Mälkki will lead members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere of a new work for chamber orchestra by Miroslav Srnka as part of the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series.

Richard Strauss
The Richard Strauss Edition takes the opera stage! The first performance of Salome using the materials from the Richard Strauss Works - Critical Edition takes place on October 14 at Oper Köln. 


Mark-Anthony Turnage
The New York premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek takes place from December 5-9 as part of BAM’s 2018 Next Wave Festival. This Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures co-production will be led by conductor Stuart Stratford and is directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins.

Huw Watkins
On February 22, members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center perform the US premiere of Huw Watkins’s Piano Quintet at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

Kurt Weill
A summary of highlights from the 2018-2019 season may be found here. Please visit the Kurt Weill Foundation’s performance calendar for more information.

Frank Zappa
The Giorgio Bernasconi chamber ensemble of the La Scala Academy will perform music from Frank Zappa’s “The Yellow Shark” on October 6 and 7 in Milan at the Piccolo Teatro, in Rome at the Roma-Europa Festival October 10, and on October 12 at Festival Aperto in Reggio Emilia.

Agata Zubel (pictured)
Agata Zubel’s Bildbeschreibung received its world premiere on September 6 at the TransArt Festival in Italy. On September 27, the work is given its Polish premiere at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and on September 29 its Austrian premiere at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Titus Engel conducts Klangforum Wien in these performances, featuring the composer as soprano soloist and baritone Frank Wörner.

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