2022/23 Season Highlights from Boosey & Hawkes London

(August 2022)

Here are highlights selected by Boosey & Hawkes in London taking place in Europe, Asia and Australasia. For season highlights taking place in North, South and Latin America, including music by Osvaldo Golijov, Magnus Lindberg and Steve Reich, click here.

2 September, Hamburg
Peter Ruzicka  Requiem (world premiere)

This new instrumental setting of the REQUIEM by Peter Ruzicka is tailored to the spaces of St Michael’s Church in Hamburg, the venue for its premiere with the Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. This autumn also brings premieres of Ruzicka’s EINGEDUNKELT for violin, choral ensemble and chamber orchestra at Donaueschingen with soloist Carolin Widmann (16 Oct), and his Paul Celan-inspired DEPART: Viola Concerto for Nils Mönkemeyer in Zürich (2 Dec).
> Concert info

4 September, Birmingham
Ondrej Adámek  Whence Comes the Voice? (world premiere)

The new publishing agreement between Boosey & Hawkes and Czech-born, Berlin-resident composer Ondrej Adamek is launched with this world premiere. The composer conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in Whence Comes the Voice? which explores the Sufi vocal tradition of Qawwali. Existing Adamek works under the new contract include Sinuous Voices for ensemble or chamber orchestra and Ça tourne ça bloque for ten instruments and sampler.
> Concert info

5 September, Turin
Grace-Evangeline Mason  The Imagined Forest (Italian premiere)

Premiered at the 2021 BBC Proms, Grace-Evangeline Mason’s orchestral work The Imagined Forest is travelling internationally in the coming season. Following its first Italian performances by the Philharmonia Orchestra under John Axelrod at the MiTo Festival in Turin and at La Scala Milan, the score journeys on to Bournemouth (9 Nov), Exeter (10 Nov), Lahti (10 Nov), Magdeburg (17 Nov) and Baltimore (19-21 May).
> Concert info

7 September, Melbourne
Eric Whitacre  The Sacred Veil (Australian premiere)

Following Covid postponements, Eric Whitacre’s cantata exploring themes of love and loss, The Sacred Veil, receives its first Australasian performances at Monash University in Melbourne (7/8 Sep), Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland (24 Sep) and Wellington Opera House (25 Sep). The Dutch premiere is presented in the ZaterdagMatinee series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Radio Choir conducted by the composer (25 Feb).
> Concert info

19 September, Venice
Michel van der Aa  The Book of Water (world premiere)

Michel van der Aa’s new theatre work, The Book of Water, is premiered at the Venice Biennale and tours to eight cities including Frankfurt (8 Nov), Amsterdam (11 Nov) and Antwerp (12 Nov). Combining live performance and film, the production features actor Samuel West on stage, with his father Timothy West and singer Mary Bevan on film. This autumn also brings the Dutch premiere of Van der Aa’s ensemble work Shades of Red performed by Asko|Schönberg (10 Oct)
> Concert info

22 September, Trondheim
Olga Neuwirth  According to What (world premiere)

The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra unveils Olga Neuwirth’s new Jasper Johns-inspired double concerto for cello, percussion and chamber orchestra, According to What. Further performances this season are at Musikprotokoll in Graz (7 Oct), with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (26 Jan) and with L’Orchestre de chambre de Paris (23 Apr). This autumn brings a major Neuwirth feature at the Konserthuset in Stockholm including the Swedish premiere of her new orchestral work Dreydl (24-27 Nov).
> Concert info (Trondheim)
> Concert info (Stockholm)

22 September, Leipzig
HK Gruber  Short Stories from the Vienna Woods (world premiere complete)

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Cristian Macelaru gives the first complete performances of Short Stories from the Vienna Woods. A shorter suite of movements drawn from Gruber’s successful opera, based on the bitter-sweet play by Ödön von Horváth, was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January. Other highlights this season include Frankenstein!! in a New Year’s Day celebration concert at the Komische Oper in Berlin (1 Jan).
> Concert info

24 September, Birmingham
Brett Dean  In this brief moment (world premiere)

Brett Dean’s new ‘evolution cantata’ is a centenary commission from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, joined by the combined forces of the CBSO Chorus and the Hallé Choir under Nicholas Collon. Future performances include those by the NDR Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg (2 Feb), the Orchestre national de Lyon and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Other Dean highlights include a residency with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (12-21 Oct) and a new work for the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich (9 Jan).
> Concert info (Birmingham)
> Concert info (Helsinki)

28 September, Perth
James MacMillan  Violin Concerto No.2 (world premiere)

Nicola Benedetti is soloist in James MacMillan’s new violin concerto, played by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Emelyanychev in Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow (28-30 Sep). The violinist, who has enjoyed a long relationship with the composer’s music, tours the concerto internationally partnering with the Dallas Symphony (17 Nov), the St Louis Symphony (10 Feb) and with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in a future season. Other major new MacMillan works premiered over the coming season include Her tears fell with the dews at even by the Pittsburgh Symphony (17 Mar) and Fiat Lux for soprano, baritone, mixed chorus, organ and orchestra by the Pacific Symphony in California (15-20 Jun)
> Concert info

6 October, Bamberg
Bernd Richard Deutsch  Phantasma (world premiere)

The Bamberg Symphony introduces Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Phantasma, inspired by the paintings of Gustav Klimt, with concerts in Bamberg (6/7 Oct) and Frankfurt (9 Oct) conducted by Jakub Hrusa. The new work travels on for performances by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda (14 Oct) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko (4 May) with a future date to be announced by the Cleveland Orchestra within Deutsch’s ongoing residency.
> Concert info

7 October, Perth
Elena Kats-Chernin  Ave Maria (world premiere)

Elena Kats-Chernin’s new commission for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Ave Maria, is premiered with soprano Sara Macliver, mezzo Fiona Campbell, and Pietari Inkinen on the rostrum. The 25-minute work sets texts by Kats-Chernin’s frequent collaborator Tamara-Anna Cislowska, saying farewell to a beloved mother. Coming months also bring the premieres in Sydney of the concert-opener Momentum (6 Oct) and a new piano concerto titled Force Majeure for Lisa Moore (13 Nov). The German premiere of her harpsichord concerto Ancient Letters follows in Magdeburg in the New Year (26 Jan), and a new Violin Concerto for Emily Sun is presented by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (21 Apr).
> Concert info

15 October, Nuremberg
Lera Auerbach  Symphony No.5 ‘Paradise Lost’ (world premiere)

This autumn brings the world premiere of two Lera Auerbach symphonies composed during the COVID lockdown. The Nuremberg State Philharmonic presents the world premiere of Symphony No.5 ‘Paradise Lost’ which shares a Milton and Genesis theme with the composer’s recent tone poem Eve’s Lament. Symphony No.6 ‘Vessels of Light’ is unveiled by cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and the Kaunas State Orchestra and Choir (5 Nov), with further performances of this tribute to wartime humanitarian Chiune Sugihara including at Carnegie Hall in New York (19 Apr). Gautier Capuçon travels with Auerbach’s recent cello concerto Diary of a Madman for a performance with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra under Sascha Goetzel (8 Dec).
> Concert info (Nuremberg)
> Concert info (Kaunas)

3 November, London
Anna Clyne  Color Field (UK premiere)

Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the UK premiere of Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired by a Mark Rothko painting and by the phenomenon of synaesthesia. Also within her Philharmonia Orchestra residency, autumn repertoire includes Masquerade and This Midnight Hour and Clyne curates a programme of American music including the UK premiere of Strange Loops for clarinet quintet. Clyne’s feature with the Trondheim Symphony, her most extensive to date in Scandinavia, includes four orchestral works: Masquerade, This Midnight Hour, Stride and Sound and Fury.
> Concert info (London)
> Concert info (Trondheim)

19 November, Bochum
Donghoon Shin  double concerto (world premiere)

The first work under Donghoon Shin’s new Boosey & Hawkes publishing contract is a double concerto for sheng, accordion and orchestra. Soloists for the premiere with the Bochum Symphony are Wu Wei on sheng and Pascal Contet on accordion, conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang, with future performances planned by the Orchestre de Bretagne and the Tongyeong Festival. Next spring unveils a further new orchestral work from the South Korean-born composer, with performances conducted by Osmo Vänskä with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (7/8 Apr), Bamberg Symphony (5/6 May) and the Seoul Philharmonic in the following season.
> Concert info

8 December, Prague
Detlev Glanert  Prague Symphony (world premiere)

Semyon Bychkov conducts a sequence of first performances of Detlev Glanert’s Prague Symphony launched by the Czech Philharmonic (8-10 Dec). Based on the writings of Kafka, this fourth symphony by Glanert is scored for mezzo, baritone and orchestra, with a duration of 45 minutes. Dutch and German premieres are conducted by Bychkov with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (14/15 Jun) and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (22/23 Jun). This season brings the Asian premiere of Glanert’s Violin Concerto No.2 with Midori in Tokyo (12 Nov) and a revival of his most recent opera Oceane at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (6/11/13 Jan).
> Concert info (Prague)
> Concert info (Amsterdam)
> Concert info (Leipzig)

9 December, Cologne
York Höller  Beethoven-Paraphrase (world premiere)

Originally written for the Beethoven 250th anniversary year in 2020, York Höller’s new Beethoven-Paraphrase receives a post-pandemic premiere by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ilan Volkov in the composer’s home city of Cologne. This season brings a further performance of his recent double concerto for cello, piano and chamber orchestra in Berlin at the Ultraschall festival (22 Jan) and a new piano work at Radio France’s Présences Festival in Paris (8 Feb).
> Concert info

5 January, Amsterdam
Anna Clyne  Weathered (world premiere)

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra gives first performances of Anna Clyne’s new concerto for clarinettist Martin Frost, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Commissioners also include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Verbier Festival and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE continues to travel with soloist Inbal Segev, who visits Madrid, London, Graz, Katowice and gives 15 North American performances this season. The opening movement of DANCE has received close to 8 million streams on Spotify to date.
> Concert info

9 January, Munich
Brett Dean  new orchestral work (world premiere)

Vladimir Jurowski, a leading champion of Brett Dean’s music, conducts the world premiere of his new orchestral commission for the Bavarian State Orchestra, following their recent recording release of the composer’s Testament. Next June the orchestra is in the Munich pit for Dean’s opera Hamlet, staged in the much-travelled production by Neil Armfield, with tenor Allan Clayton repeating his acclaimed portrayal of Shakespeare’s Danish prince (26 Jun).
> Concert info

21 January, Erfurt
Mark Simpson  Pleasure (German premiere)

The German premiere of Mark Simpson's chamber opera is staged at the Theater Erfurt in a new production by Cristiano Fioravanti. Springing from mythical roots, the drama is set in a gay club in the North of England, where the revelation of past mysteries leads to personal tragedy.
The New Year also brings the Dutch and German premieres of Simpson's Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti in Amsterdam’s ZaterdagMatinee series (11 Mar) and Cologne’s Eight Bridges festival (28 Apr).
> Opera info

11 February, Paris
Unsuk Chin  new work (world premiere)

Unsuk Chin returns to Paris for a major focus on her music presented by Radio France’s Festival Présences (7-12 Feb). Leading the performance highlights is the premiere of a new orchestral work with the Orchestre National de France conducted by François-Xavier Roth. Further international performances of the new score are planned in Amsterdam, Basel, San Francisco and Taipei in future seasons. Chin is extending her series of Piano Etudes with the French premiere of No.7 and world premiere of No.8 in Paris. The Festival Présences embraces 17 Chin works across ten concerts, with six works presented in France for the first time including Frontispiece and Violin Concerto No.2 ‘Shards of Silence’ with soloist Leonidas Kavakos.
> Festival info

25 March, Paris
John Adams  Nixon in China

Gustavo Dudamel conducts a starry new production of Nixon in China for Paris Opéra, staged by Valentina Carrasco at the Opéra de Bastille. The cast features Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming at Richard and Pat Nixon and Xiaomeng Zhang as Zhou Enlai. Adams’s opera is also staged in three German productions next season, in Dortmund (26 Feb), Koblenz (19 May) and Hannover (3 Jun), and the Teatro Real in Madrid presents the work’s Spanish premiere (17 Apr). This season opens with the world premiere of Adams's new opera Antony and Cleopatra at San Francisco Opera (10 Sep) and closes with the composer on the rostrum for a concert performance of The Death of Klinghoffer in Amsterdam within the ZaterdagMatinee series (3 Jun).
> Opera info (Paris)
> Opera info (Madrid)
> Opera info (Amsterdam)

14 April, Munich
Johannes X. Schachtner  Violin Concerto (world premiere)

Julia Fischer is soloist in Johannes X. Schachtner’s new Violin Concerto, inspired by the Bamberg Symphony’s roots in Prague and utilising Bohemian forms beloved by Dvorak and Janacek. Jakub Hrusa conducts a pair of first performances at the Herkulessaal in Munich and the Konzerthalle in Bamberg (14/16 Apr). Recent works by Schachtner include I Quattro Sonetti Vivaldiani, extending Vivaldi’s celebrated Four Seasons with new musical settings of sonnets penned by the composer, creating a full concert evening.
> Concert info

26 April, London
Brett Dean  In spe contra spem (world premiere)

Edward Gardner conducts the world premiere of Brett Dean’s new commission In spe contra spem, the culmination of his residency with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. With a title translating as ‘hope against hope’, the new work is a study for Dean’s next opera, combining the voices of two sopranos, Emma Bell and Elsa Dreisig, and setting texts by Matthew Jocelyn. Other Dean works in the LPO residency this season include Three Memorials (19 Oct) and Amphitheatre (18 Jan) conducted by Karina Canellakis and Enrique Mazzola respectively.
> Concert info

28 April, Hamburg
Sean Shepherd  On a Clear Day (world premiere)

The opening concerts of next year’s Hamburg International Music Festival introduce Sean Shepherd’s new cantata with the Philharmonic State Orchestra under Kent Nagano at the Elbphilharmonie. Scored for cello, youth choir and orchestra, On a Clear Day sets texts by the Hamburg writer and poet Ulla Hahn, viewing the primal crisis of creation from which humanity developed as a metaphor for hope beyond the Corona pandemic. Further performances are planned by the Dresden Music Festival. Shepherd’s recent output includes two orchestral works on ecological themes: Melt and Sprout.
> Concert info

11 May, Berlin
Gabriela Ortiz  Téenek - Invenciones de Territorio (German premiere)

Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, who recently signed a publishing contact with Boosey & Hawkes, is enjoying a wealth of international performances. The Berlin Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel present the German premiere of her Téenek - Invenciones de Territorio, a vibrant plea for human existence without borders, which has become one of her most widely performed works. Dudamel is a major champion of Ortiz’s music, having recently led the premieres of her Clara with the New York Philharmonic and the violin concerto Altar de Cuerda with Maria Duenas and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
> Concert info

13 May, Amsterdam
James MacMillan  Symphony No.5: ‘Le grand Inconnu’ (Dutch premiere)

James MacMillan conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in the Dutch premiere of this major recent work combining voices and chamber orchestra. The fifth symphony is presented by the ZaterdagMatinee series at the Concertgebouw, following its successful streamed performance of MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio during the pandemic period. Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and recorded by The Sixteen, the symphony explores the Holy Spirit as ‘the great unknown’ summoned through wind, water and fire.
> Concert info

14 June, Munich
Manfred Trojahn  En plein jour – Minotauromachie (world premiere)
Commissioned by the Munich Philharmonic, Manfred Trojahn’s new work for percussion and orchestra is premiered next June by soloist Simone Rubino, with Omer Meir Wellber on the rostrum of the Isarphilharmonie. The title references Pablo Picasso’s La Minotauromachie, focusing on the day side of the famous print created in 1935. Following the premiere this year of his opera Eurydice – Die Liebenden, blind in Amsterdam, Trojahn is at work on a new stagework for the 2023/24 season.
> Concert info

> Also visit our Season Highlights from Boosey & Hawkes in New York for events in North, South and Latin America.

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