News

This month brings first performances of three new works by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Lament is a broadcast premiere by Radio France, Owl Songs is streamed by the Nash Ensemble from the Wigmore Hall in London, and Black Milk is streamed by Psappha from Manchester.

Leading composer Olga Neuwirth has signed an exclusive publishing contract with Boosey & Hawkes to represent her current and future works worldwide. These works will join those composed between 2000 and 2009, already published by Boosey & Hawkes.

B&H is pleased to present a three-volume collection of John Adams’s opera choruses with piano accompaniment, including choral selections from Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, and more.

Boosey & Hawkes won three awards at the Music Publishers Association’s annual Paul Revere Awards, taking home First Prize in Cover Design, First Prize in Full Scores Notesetting, and Third Prize in Notesetting for Solos without accompaniment.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky’s passing on April 6, Boosey & Hawkes is launching an online contest for string-piano duos to submit video recordings of the famous Suite Italienne. The winning entry will feature in Boosey’s next score video on YouTube.

Two-time JUNO Award-winner Ana Sokolovic receives her fourth nomination for Classical Composition of the Year, in addition to two nominations in the Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber category. The JUNO Awards take place Sunday, May 16.

The 50th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s death on 6 April 1971 is honoured over the coming month with performances – many streamed due to the pandemic, new publications including his Two Sketches for a Sonata, and an array of recordings in newly compiled box sets.

Part of our “Performer Picks” series of interviews with world-renowned artists about their favourite works in the B&H catalogue. Read other “Performer Picks” interviews with Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Bridget Kibbey and Johannes Moser.

The world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Violin Concerto is streamed on 29 April by the London Symphony Orchestra with soloist Nicola Benedetti and conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Further performances are planned with the WDR Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestras.

In honour of the Stravinsky 50th anniversary of death on 6 April Boosey & Hawkes publishes his Two Sketches for a Sonata. The manuscript of these short piano fragments, composed towards the end of Stravinsky’s life, is housed in the Paul Sacher Foundation’s archive in Basel.

Decca Records is releasing a new streaming series, Healing Light, presented by Karl Jenkins. The specially curated series of four mini-albums draws together music from the composer’s catalogue to help listeners find moments of solace, sanctuary, prayer, healing, hope and peace.

Music concerts with creative film visuals make for a potent combination in our current era of streaming performances. Several works in our catalog have already built in compelling visual components that add to the overall audience experience.

2020 honoured the 50th anniversary of Roberto Gerhard’s death in 1970 but, due to the pandemic, events in Catalonia had to be rescheduled. 2021 sees an expanded series of concerts focused both in Barcelona where the composer spent the first half of his creative life and in his native town of Valls.

Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen introduces his Holy Spirit Mass, released by Decca Classics on 2 April, with Trondheim forces conducted by Sofi Jeannin. The work was premiered in Washington in 2017 with its first European performance following in Rome at the Festival of Sacred Music and Art.

Colin Currie presents a new recording of HK Gruber’s two percussion concertos, Rough Music and into the open…, featuring the BBC Philharmonic and conductors Juanjo Mena and John Storgårds.

An impressive array of box set compilations and reissues from the major record companies, featuring leading performing artists, honours the 50th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s death on 6 April.

Christopher Rouse posthumously wins the GRAMMY award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his Symphony No. 5, recorded by the Nashville Symphony and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.

The premiere recording of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Deux Sérénades for violin and orchestra appears on Hilary Hahn’s latest album for Deutsche Grammophon, providing a final barline to the composer’s recorded output.

The premiere recording of Andriessen’s recent song cycle The only one, for female jazz singer and large ensemble, is released on Nonesuch with vocalist Nora Fischer, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In February, NEXUS and So Percussion launched DRUMMINGat50.com, an exploration of Steve Reich’s seminal percussion work Drumming. Marking the seminal work’s 50th anniversary in 2021, the online resource includes a new music video featuring the two percussion groups, plus a series of filmed interviews with musicians and musicologists.