2023/24 Highlights from Boosey & Hawkes London

(August 2023)

Here are our season highlights taking place in Europe, Asia and Australasia. For events in North, South and Latin America, including music by recent signings Gabriela Ortiz and Courtney Bryan, click here.

8 September, Helsinki
Anna Clyne  Time and Tides (world premiere)
Anna Clyne’s Composer-in-Residence role with the Helsinki Philharmonic is launched with the world premiere of her new folksong-inspired violin concerto for Pekka Kuusisto, Time and Tides. Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the concerto in Helsinki and Kuusisto directs its UK premiere leading the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in St Andrews (13 Mar). Clyne’s recent saxophone concerto for Jess Gillam, Glasslands, receives its UK premiere from the BBC Philharmonic in Nottingham (5 Oct) and is one of three works featured within her season as Artist-in-Residence with the Symphony Orchestra of Castilla y León.
> Concert info

14 September, London
Claude Vivier  Wo bist du Licht!
This season sees Barbara Hannigan continuing her international championing of the music of Claude Vivier. In the opening concert of the London Symphony Orchestra’s 23/24 programme she conducts Wo bist du Licht!, the composer’s poetic meditation on human suffering, with a further performance in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (20 Oct). Aphrodite Patoulidou returns as vocalist when Hannigan conducts additional performances of Vivier’s classic Lonely Child with the Munich Philharmonic (14/15 Dec).
> Concert info

15 September, Brussels
Elena Kats-Chernin  Varieté (world premiere)
The German silent movie Varieté by Ewald A. Dupont, with its renowned scenes filmed at Berlin’s Wintergarten vaudeville theatre in the 1920s, receives a new accompanying score from Elena Kats-Chernin. The premiere at a Bozar Ciné-concert in Brussels features the Belgian National Orchestra under Dirk Brossé. The autumn also brings the opening of Kats-Chernin’s latest children’s opera, Nils Holgerssons wundersame Abenteuer, staged by the Berlin Komische Oper at the Schillertheater (12 Nov). Australian highlights this autumn include the concert premiere of Human Waves in Sydney (9 Sep) and her new Sarenka Concerto for violin and cello in Melbourne (27 Oct).
> Concert info

19 September, Linz
Elena Firsova  Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (world premiere)
The Brucknerhaus Orchestra in Linz unveils Elena Firsova’s new Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra, with the sonic.art Saxophone Quartet in the spotlight. The German premiere follows with the co-commissioning Staatsorchester Darmstadt (26/27 Nov). Firsova’s recent Piano Concerto has been travelling internationally, visiting Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, New York and Philadelphia with Yefim Bronfman, and the New Year brings its UK premiere by soloist Simon Trpceski and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vassily Petrenko (22 Feb).
> Concert info

21 September, Stuttgart
Marko Nikodijevic  Gospodi vozvah (world premiere)
Antoine Tamestit is viola soloist in Marko Nikodijevic’s new work Gospodi vozvah with the SWR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Teodor Currentzis. The title is drawn from the Church Slavonic chant at the beginning of Psalm 140, ‘Lord I cry to you’. 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, with Nikodijevic’s music interspersed around famous opera arias, continues to enjoy stagings around Europe. English National Opera presents the work this autumn in London to celebrate the diva’s centenary, directed by and starring Marina Abramovic (3-11 Nov).
> Concert info

22 September, Adelaide
Grace-Evangeline Mason  The Imagined Forest (Australian premiere)
Mark Wigglesworth conducts the Australian premiere of Grace-Evangeline Mason’s The Imagined Forest with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. This immersive sylvan journey has become the young British composer’s most widely performed work, travelling to Norway, Italy, Finland, Germany and the USA, since its premiere at the 2021 BBC Proms. Wigglesworth conducted a further Proms premiere for Mason this year, her reflective concert-opener ABLAZE THE MOON. Her choral work A Memory of Ocean, employing texts by US poet Sara Teasdale, receives its Dutch premiere from the Netherlands Radio Choir (6 Oct).
> Concert info

23 September, Amsterdam
Unsuk Chin  Piano Concerto
The NTR ZaterdagMatinee series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam launches its Unsuk Chin feature this season with her Piano Concerto, performed by Sunwook Kim, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Karina Canellakis. Further Chin concerts in the Amsterdam series include Graffiti and Gougalon with Asko|Schönberg under Bas Wiegers (28 Oct), the Dutch premiere of her recent orchestral score Alaraph: Ritual of the Heartbeat conducted by Kent Nagano (13 Jan), and the Dutch premiere of Alice in Wonderland in a concert performance conducted by Markus Stenz with Siobhan Stagg in the title role (1 Jun).
> Concert info

27 September, Berlin
Brett Dean  Ich lausche und ich höre (world premiere)
The Scharoun Ensemble’s 40th anniversary brings a new commission from Brett Dean at the Berlin Philharmonie, with soprano Sarah Aristidou. Ich lausche und ich höre collages letters from the German Romantic poet Karoline von Günderrode, spurned in love and taking her own life at the age of 25, with quotations from her poem Funeral Rites for Adonis. Other Dean highlights this season include a Wigmore Hall residency concert in London (6 Nov), a new homage to Liszt for pianist Benjamin Grosvenor entitled Faustian Pact, and the French premiere of Dean’s evolution cantata In this Brief Moment in Lyon (28 Mar).
> Concert info

30 September, Hatfield
Robin Holloway  Quintet for bassoon and string quartet (world premiere)
80th birthday celebrations for Robin Holloway continue with the world premiere of his new Quintet for bassoon and string quartet, as part of the Hatfield House Music Festival. The concert in the Marble Hall features bassoonist Amy Harman and strings from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. The birthday year has brought two major recordings of Holloway orchestrations: an acclaimed disc of Brahms and Schumann works on Toccata Classics and a rapturous reimagining of Debussy songs on Alpha Classics, bearing the title C’est l’extase and originally created for soprano Renée Fleming.
> Concert info

5 October, Cumnock
James MacMillan  Soul Song/The Vows (world premieres)
Danielle de Niese is soprano soloist in two new song settings by James MacMillan, unveiled in her recital at the composer’s Cumnock Tryst festival in Scotland. Residencies this season with the Tampere Philharmonic and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir include the Finnish premiere of MacMillan’s Symphony No.4 (3 Nov) and the Estonian premiere of Symphony No.5: Le grand Inconnu (3 Nov). The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Chamber Orchestra present the Australian premiere of Stabat Mater at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney conducted by Brett Weymark (14 Oct).
> Concert info

13 October, London
Kim André Arnesen  Our Living Future (world premiere)
Joint choral forces of the BBC Singers and National Youth Choir of Great Britain give the world premiere of Kim André Arnesen’s new work at the Barbican’s Milton Court in London and on BBC Radio 3. Scored for double choir and accompaniment, Our Living Future employs new texts by Euan Tait on the theme of the four elements of nature. Recent large-scale scores by Arnesen include The Stranger for choir and instrumental ensemble, setting texts by those who have had to flee their homeland, and Fragile Beauty for two harps and strings, premiered at this summer’s St Olav Festival in the composer’s native city of Trondheim.
> Concert info

19 October, London
Ana Sokolovic  Ciaccona/Jeu des portraits (UK premieres)
The Philharmonia’s Music of Today series at the Southbank Centre includes a portrait concert of the Serbian-born, Canadian-resident composer. The programme conducted by Adam Hickox includes the UK premieres of Jeu des Portraits, providing musical pictures of four 20th century Canadian composers and Ciaccona inspired by Balkan folklore. Recent orchestral works by Sokolovic include Melita, premiered in April by the Orchestre symphonique de montréal under Rafael Payare, which depicts Calypso’s island of Mljet in the Adriatic.
> Concert info

19 October, Leipzig
Aziza Sadikova  Strahlen des Feuers (world premiere)
The new double concerto by Aziza Sadikova, commissioned by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, is scored for the combination of organ and accordion, exploring their overlapping reed sonorities. Michael Schönheit is organ soloist and Omer Meir Wellber takes the double role of accordion soloist and conductor. The title, translated as Fire Rays, links the work to Sadikova’s recent Angelo di Fuoco, premiered in February as part of her Parma residency with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. Aziza Sadikova, born in Uzbekistan and resident in Berlin, signed with Boosey & Hawkes this year.
> Concert info

20 October, The Hague
Lera Auerbach  Symphony No.5 ‘Paradise Lost’ (Dutch premiere)
The Residentie Orchestra presents the Dutch premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Symphony No.5, bearing the subtitle Paradise Lost and extending her recent exploration of Miltonian themes. The composer is on the rostrum for this performance, part of an Auerbach festival with eight concerts in The Hague (15-22 Oct). Other Auerbach highlights this season include a new choral score, Flights of the Angakok, composed for the Netherlands Chamber Choir (12 Oct), the German premiere of Symphony No.6 ‘Vessels of Light’ in Dresden (11 Nov), and first French performances of her cello concerto Diary of a Madman with Gautier Capuçon in Lyon and Paris (5/6 Jun).
> Festival info

21 October, Donaueschingen
Iris ter Schiphorst  Was wird hier eigentlich gespielt? (world premiere)
The Donaueschingen Music Days presents the world premiere of Iris ter Schiphorst’s new work for singer-performer Salome Kammer, ensemble and electronics, whose title translates as What’s actually being played here? Commissioned by the Ensemble Ascolta with funding from the Siemens Foundation, the score sees ter Schiphorst and writer Felicitas Hoppe exploring the festival’s theme of ‘collaboration’ with composer Elnaz Seyedi, writer Anja Kampmann and installation director Iris Drogekamp. The autumn also brings performances of Sometimes II by the combined Zafraan Ensemble and Ensemble New Babylon in Berlin, Bremen and Leipzig (19 Sep – 2 Oct).
> Concert info

22 October, Donaueschingen
Olga Neuwirth  Black Dwarf (world premiere)
The New York-based keyboard and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire gives the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Black Dwarf at the Donaueschingen Music Days. The score is the latest by the composer to explore aspects of time, here from the perspective of deep space. Following performances in Lyon, Stockholm, Dresden and Cabrillo, Neuwirth’s recent orchestral score Dreydl spins on in the coming season to Toronto (25 Oct), Barcelona (28 Oct) and Darmstadt (9 Jun).
> Concert info

28 October, Barcelona
John Adams  Antony and Cleopatra (European premiere)
The European premiere of John Adams’s opera Antony and Cleopatra is presented by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in the original production by Elkhanah Pulitzer. Julia Bullock sings the role of Cleopatra for the first time and Gerald Finley returns as Antony, with the composer as conductor. The opera was premiered at San Francisco Opera last year and travels on to the Metropolitan Opera in a future season. Further Adams opera stagings in Europe this autumn include Doctor Atomic – ever topical with the recent Oppenheimer movie - at Theater Bremen (16 Sep) and The Death of Klinghoffer by Norrlands Opera in Umeå in Sweden (8 Oct).
> Opera info

6 November, Munich
Unsuk Chin  Operascope (world premiere)
The Bavarian State Orchestra celebrates its 500th anniversary with a new work from Unsuk Chin, reflecting on the history of opera repertoire, just as her Frontispiece responded to the history of symphonic music. The Munich premiere, conducted by Kent Nagano, is followed by performances from the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne (4 Apr), the Orchestre de Paris (17 Apr) as well as by the Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra, at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in South Korea, and by the Esprit Orchestra in Toronto. This season also brings further performances of Chin’s concerto for orchestra SPIRA in Berlin (3 Sep), Amsterdam (1 Dec) and London (7 Apr).
> Concert info

19 November, Linz
Karl Jenkins  One World (world premiere)
Released by Decca Records in July, Karl Jenkins’s One World receives its world concert premiere at the Brucknerhaus in Linz, with the World Choir for Peace and World Orchestra for Peace conducted by the composer. The hour-long score examines a fractured world (populist governments, plagues, climate change, human trafficking, disrespect for basic human rights, terrorism, war), heralding a vision of a peaceful and egalitarian planet. This autumn also brings international performances of music from The Peacemakers on World Peace Day, including the complete work in Bethlehem (21 Sep), and a residency with the Armenian State Symphony including Symphonic Adiemus (11 Oct).
> Concert info

24 November, London
Joan Armatrading  Symphony No.1 (world premiere)
The Chineke! Orchestra gives the first performance of Joan Armatrading’s symphony at the Southbank Centre under the baton of Andrew Grams. The 30-minute orchestral score, composed in 2022 and cast in four movements, demonstrates the versatility of Armatrading, one of Britain’s great singer songwriters. As she describes, “I have always known that I would write a classical piece at some point in my life. One day, I was in my studio and out of the blue I decided that this was the day.” The symphony joined the Boosey & Hawkes catalogue in April and is available for further performance.
> Concert info

3 December, Dusseldorf
Manfred Trojahn  Septembersonate (world premiere)
The newest opera by Manfred Trojahn is an adaptation of Henry James’s The Jolly Corner, a journey of self-discovery for a man who returns to New York to sell his childhood home, soon haunted by the person he would have become if he had stayed there. The Deutsche Oper am Rhein stages the premiere of Septembersonate in a production by Johannes Erath with a compact cast of four principals and the Dusseldorf Symphony conducted by Vitali Alekseenok. Recent concert works by Trojahn include Achéron for percussion quartet and orchestra, premiered in Munich in June.
> Opera info

21 December, Seoul
Donghoon Shin  Upon His Ghostly Solitude (Asian premiere)
The Los Angeles Philharmonic gave the premiere of Donghoon Shin’s new orchestral score, inspired by Yeats and Berg, in April conducted by Osmo Vänskä. The first Asian performance of Upon His Ghostly Solitude is hosted by the LOTTE Concert Hall in Shin’s native South Korea, with Jaap van Zweden at the helm of the Seoul Philharmonic. This season also brings the work’s Dutch premiere in the NTR ZaterdagMatinee series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (23 Jan), plus a performance of Shin’s cello concerto Nachtergebung (published by Ricordi) with the London Symphony Orchestra, soloist Rebecca Gilliver and conductor François-Xavier Roth (7 Apr).
> Concert info

19 January, Luxembourg
Detlev Glanert  Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (world premiere)
Johannes Moser is soloist in Detlev Glanert’s new cello concerto, premiered by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno. The work travels for its German premiere to the Cologne Philharmonie with the same artists (21 Jan), and its North American premiere is with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä (27 Mar). This season also brings the UK premiere of Glanert’s Prague Symphony by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov at the Barbican (24 Nov) and the world premiere of the composer’s latest opera, The Jewess of Toledo, based on Grillparzer’s classic tale at the Semperoper in Dresden (10 Feb).
> Concert info
> Opera info

26 January, Leipzig
James MacMillan  Ordo Virtutum (world premiere)
The MDR Radio Choir celebrates its 75th anniversary with a major new choral score by James MacMillan, premiered at the Peterskirche in Leipzig under Philipp Ahmann. The hour-long work sets the celebrated Latin text by Hildegard of Bingen for soprano Yeree Suh, double choir and percussionist Michael Weilacher. The Spring season also brings a new Robert Burns choral setting, Composed in August, commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for premiere in Edinburgh (21 Mar) and by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. The European premiere of Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia is presented by Hallé forces in Manchester under Mark Elder (1 Jun).
> Concert info

6 February, Paris
Steve Reich  Jacob’s Ladder (European premiere)
A large-scale Steve Reich retrospective at Radio France’s Présences festival in Paris (5-11 Feb) includes the first European performance of Jacob’s Ladder following its premiere in New York in October. The 15-minute score, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Synergy Vocals, sets Biblical texts describing Jacob’s vision of a ladder between Heaven and Earth, with angels ascending and descending. Présences also includes French premieres of Reich/Richter (6 Feb) and Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (10 Feb). The same month sees a major Reich event in Manchester, a collaboration between the Hallé and the RNCM led by Colin Currie (2-3 Feb).
> Festival info

28 February, Helsinki
Magnus Lindberg  Viola Concerto (world premiere)
Following his pairs of concertos for violin and cello, Magnus Lindberg completes the string set with his first Viola Concerto, composed for Lawrence Power. The world premiere by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Helsinki Music Centre is conducted by Nicholas Collon, with future performances planned in Germany, the UK and USA. Lindberg’s recent orchestral work, Serenades, continues to travel this season, including its Chinese premiere in Shanghai (19 Sep) and its Dutch premiere in Amsterdam’s NTR ZaterdagMatinee series (9 Dec). Pekka Kuusisto tours Violin Concerto No.1 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Emelyanychev (21-23 Feb).
> Concert info

29 February, Swansea
Karl Jenkins  Stravaganza (UK premiere)
Jess Gillam is saxophone soloist in the first UK performance of Jenkins’s new concerto in Swansea with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Nil Venditti. Stravaganza, premiered by Gillam in June at the Berlin Philharmonie, explores themes of carnival and extravagant fantasy. The composer’s 80th birthday year in 2024 includes major celebrations at Carnegie Hall in New York presented by DCINY (15 Jan) and at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of a UK tour featuring music from his new score One World (10 Mar - 14 Apr). Next year sees The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace reaching its 3000th performance since its premiere in 2000.
> Concert info
> UK tour info

3 March, London
John Adams  Frenzy (world premiere)
Simon Rattle conducts first performances of John Adams’s new orchestral score, Frenzy, with the London Symphony Orchestra. Following its premiere at the Barbican, orchestra and conductor tour the 20-minute work to the Bristol Beacon (4 Mar), Dortmund Konzerthaus (6 Mar), Philharmonie Luxembourg (7 Mar) and the Philharmonie de Paris (9 Mar). Adams opera stagings next spring include new productions of The Gospel According to the Other Mary in its Austrian premiere at the Volksoper Wien as part of the Vienna Festival (15 Jun), and Nixon in China at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin staged by the Hauen und Stechen collective (22 Jun).
> Concert info

21 March, Cologne
Michel van der Aa  The Book of Water (German premiere)
Cologne plays host to the German premiere of Michel van der Aa’s most recent chamber music theatre work for actor, string quartet and film. The performance at the Cologne Philharmonie features actor Samuel West on stage, players from Ensemble Modern in the pit, and actor Timothy West and soprano Mary Bevan on film. Since its premiere last year, The Book of Water has been staged on a Dutch tour, in Antwerp, Hong Kong and Tongyeong. Van der Aa performances in the Netherlands this autumn include Mask for ensemble in The Hague (5 Nov) and the double concerto for violin and cello, Akin, in Utrecht (6 Nov).
> Opera info

26 March, Salzburg
Mark Simpson  Phôs (world premiere)
The Salzburg Bach Choir and wind and brass players from the Mozarteum Orchestra give the first performance of Simpson’s new score for voices and an ensemble matching that of the Bruckner Mass in E minor. The work sets a poem by Rilke exploring themes of primal light and the creation of man. Simpson’s impassioned Violin Concerto receives its first Scottish performances next Spring with Nicola Benedetti and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under David Afkham (21-23 Mar). This follows acclaimed performances with Benedetti in London, Cincinnati and Cologne.
> Concert info

22 April, Vienna
HK Gruber  Short Stories from the Vienna Woods (Austrian premiere)
Drawn from his highly successful opera Tales from the Vienna Woods, HK Gruber’s orchestral suite Short Stories receives its Austrian premiere at the Vienna Konzerthaus next Spring. The concert, featuring the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer, also includes Gruber’s much-travelled trumpet concerto Aerial with Selina Ott as soloist and Radio City from Manhattan Broadcasts. Gruber conducts a further performance of Short Stories in Mainz in the New Year, coupled with his Piano Concerto with Frank Dupree as soloist (26 Jan).
> Concert info

1 May, Birmingham
Anna Clyne  ATLAS (UK premiere)
Jeremy Denk is piano soloist in Anna Clyne’s new concerto, receiving its UK premiere by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kazuki Yamada. ATLAS is the latest piece by the composer to be inspired by art, in this case a portfolio of work by Gerhard Richter, collecting together photos, news cutting and sketches since the mid-1960s. Other spring highlighs for Clyne next year include the European premiere of Quarter Days for string quartet and orchestra, given by the Meta4 Quartet and Jyväskylä Sinfonia (18 Jan), and further performances by Martin Fröst of the clarinet concerto Weathered in Valladolid (23 Feb) and Hamburg (13 Jun).
> Concert info

16 June, Cologne
Ondrej Adámek  INES (world premiere)
The new opera by Prague-born, Spanish-resident composer Ondrej Adámek, who signed with Boosey & Hawkes last year, is unveiled in the coming season. Francois-Xavier Roth conducts Cologne Opera forces in a run of six performances directed by the work’s librettist Katharina Schmitt. The title INES refers to the scientific scale used to measure nuclear incidents and the opera’s love story transports the Orpheus/Eurydice myth into a post-apocalyptic world. Coming months bring performances of Adámek’s Ça tourne ça bloque for ensemble in Vienna (18 Sep) and Salzburg (24 Nov) and Sinuous Voices by the Berlin Philharmonic under Robin Ticciati (7 Dec).
> Concert info

2024 brings 90th birthday anniversaries for three major modern masters: Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and Alfred Schnittke.

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

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