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World Premieres of Jörg Widmann's Viola Concerto and Es war einmal...

Oct. 02, 2015

World Premieres of Jörg Widmann's <em>Viola Concerto</em> and <em>Es war einmal...</em>

Two works by Jörg Widmann receive their world premieres in Paris and Zürich this month. Widmann’s Es war einmal... (Once upon a time) for clarinet, viola, and piano is presented in the Kleiner Saal of Zürich’s glamorous Tonhalle on October 25. Violist Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Dénes Várion give the premiere, alongside Widmann on clarinet.

Es war einmal embodies Widmann’s curiosity with fairy tales, in particular their archetypal characters and set phrases (like ‘Once upon a time …’ and ‘… they all lived happily ever after’) as well as their ability to embody mankind’s underlying primal fears and desires.  Scored for the same instrumentation as Robert Schumann’s Märschenrzählungen (Fairy Tales), Widmann’s work stands apart from Schumann’s as “a naïve and fantastical alternative concept to our genuine world with all its uphevals.”

On October 28, Widmann’s Viola Concerto receives its world premiere with the Orchestre de Paris in the Grande Salle's Philharmonie 1. The work was co-commissioned by the Orchestre de Paris, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Paavo Järvi conducts the premiere with violist Antoine Tamestit.

Details on the performances can be found at tonhalle-orchester.ch and orchestredeparis.com. 

For more information on Jörg Widmann, visit schott-music.com.

Jörg Widmann
Es war einmal... (Once Upon a Time) (2015)
five pieces in fairy-tale style for clarinet, viola and piano
25’

Jörg Widmann
Viola Concerto (2015)
for viola and orchestra
20’

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