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US Premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Astralis at Northwestern University

Nov. 26, 2013

US Premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's <em>Astralis</em> at Northwestern University

To close out the year, several major performances of works by Wolfgang Rihm take place throughout the US, including the American premiere of Rihm’s Astralis at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL on December 3.

Astralis, scored for small chorus, cello, and timpani, was composed in 2001 and is the third work in Rihm’s Über die Linie (Over the Line) series. The piece is based on the poetry of German philosopher Novalis, and is a spacious, hymnal meditation on what the poet describes as “a strange, wondrous, shimmering future”. Donald Nally leads the premiere with the Bienen School of Music Contemporary and Early Vocal Ensemble.

On December 2, the Eastman School of Music’s Ossia Ensemble performs Rihm’s Chiffre I, for piano and chamber ensemble. The piece is the first in Rihm’s large, 75-minute cycle of works titled Chiffre-Zyklus. Pianist Aloys Kontarsky premiered Chiffre I in 1983, with Bernhard Kontarsky leading the RSO Saarbrücken.

Another major highlight for Rihm this season was the world premiere of a new work for orchestra, Verwandlung 5, with Franz Welser-Möst leading The Cleveland Orchestra. The premiere took place to great acclaim on November 20 at the historic Musikverein in Vienna.

For more information on Wolfgang Rihm, please visit www.universaledition.com.

Wolfgang Rihm 
Astralis ("Über die Linie" III) (2001)
for small choir, cello, and timpani
25’

Chiffre I (1982)
for piano and 7 instruments
cl, bsn, tpt, tbn, 2vc, db
8’

Verwandlung 5 (2013)
for orchestra
2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp.perc-str
11'

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