MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Music & the Arts

March 6, 2024 • 5:17 pm Comments Off on Arditti Quartet at 50

Arditti Quartet at 50

Thursday marks the 50th anniversary to the day that Irvine Arditti and his colleagues gave their first concert. The Arditti Quartet would go on to become one of the leading advocates for new chamber music — from Ligeti, Xenakis, and Stockhausen (including the Helicopter Quartet) to their latest commissions from Toshio Hosokawa and Cathy Milliken.

My program text for the official 50th-anniversary concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal can be found here.

The program:

Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012)
String Quartet No. 1 (1977)

Cathy Milliken
In Speak for String Quartet (2023) world premiere
Toshio Hosokawa (*1955)
Oreksis for Piano Quintet (2023) world premiere
Intermission
Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022)
The Tree of Strings for String Quartet (2007)

Filed under: Arditti Quartet, chamber music, Pierre Boulez Saal

December 26, 2023 • 8:37 pm Comments Off on Diving into the World of Bach with András Schiff

Diving into the World of Bach with András Schiff

Bach’s manuscript of the Prelude in E-flat minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I (© Staatsbibliothek Berlin)

I had the pleasure of writing the program essay for Sir András Schiff’s series of recitals devoted to the keyboard works of J.S. Bach currently under way at the Boulez Saal in Berlin.

Boulez Saal is publishing lots of terrific content on its digital platform. The selection of exclusive video productions includes introductory talks (free access) as well as performances (with a membership) by the celebrated pianist.

Bach immersion

Filed under: András Schiff, Bach, Pierre Boulez Saal

May 10, 2023 • 2:36 am Comments Off on Thibaudet and the Colburn Ensemble in Berlin

Thibaudet and the Colburn Ensemble in Berlin

Jean-Yves Thibaudet and an ensemble from the Colburn School perform a chamber program this evening at Boulez-Saal in Berlin.

Frank Gehry, architect of Boulez-Saal and a friend of Daniel Barenboim, has also designed a 100,000 square-foot expansion of the Colburn School campus in downtown LA, including a 1,000-seat, in-the-round performance space, a studio theater, dance studios, and public gardens and green spaces. Reuniting with Gehry for that project is another name familiar to Berliners: Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics, who served as acoustician for Boulez-Saal (along with other Gehry buildings, including Disney Concert Hall). The new Colburn performance hall, expected to open to the public in 2025, will have parallels with Boulez-Saal.

I wrote about tonight’s program here.

Filed under: architecture, chamber music, music news, Pierre Boulez Saal

February 16, 2023 • 10:05 am Comments Off on Benefit Concert for Earthquake Victims

Benefit Concert for Earthquake Victims

Students and alumni of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, among whom are a number of musicians from Türkiye and Syria, initiated a benefit concert to be held on Monday, February 20, 7.30pm in collaboration with the Pierre Boulez Saal. Focusing on the theme “2Home,” the concert will contribute to efforts aiding those affected by the massive earthquake in these two countries.

The program includes works of Western classical music as well as compositions from the Middle East, especially from Türkiye and Syria.perform at the Pierre Boulez Saal on February 20.

In addition to the concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal on Monday, February 20, there will be three smaller concerts in the foyer of the Barenboim-Said Akademie on February 16, 17, and 18, each at 4pm. Admission to the foyer concerts is free; donations are welcome. Proceeds from all four concerts will go to the Earthquake Relief Fund of the German Red Cross. Call +49 30 4799 7411 for tickets.

more info

Filed under: music news, Pierre Boulez Saal

February 8, 2023 • 9:38 am Comments Off on West-Eastern Divan Ensemble Tonight in Berlin

West-Eastern Divan Ensemble Tonight in Berlin

Here’s a video of the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble performing Mendelssohn’s Octet at Boulez-Saal in 2021.

On the agenda at the Boulez-Saal in Berlin tonight is this program by the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble. It’s an interesting mix of Jörg Widmann, Dvořák, Hindemith, and Enescu. My program notes here.

Filed under: chamber music, Pierre Boulez Saal

January 26, 2021 • 9:47 am Comments Off on Schubert Week from Berlin

Schubert Week from Berlin

The Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin just completed its customary January week devoted to Schubert’s art song, with Thomas Hampson as guide and mentor.

The entire week’s worth of daily concerts, workshops, and conversations, which was streamed live from the hall, remains available online for another 30 days. The digital format also includes extended behind-the-scenes content on the songs and poems as well as interviews with some of the artists.

see the links to streams below on this page

Filed under: lieder, Pierre Boulez Saal, Schubert

October 6, 2020 • 7:45 am Comments Off on Music of Luca Francesconi at Boulez Saal

Music of Luca Francesconi at Boulez Saal

Luca Francesconi

Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin continues to buzz with a remarkably varied program of events — including this chamber concert by the Boulez Ensemble directed by Daniel Barenboim. Along with pieces by Beethoven and Schumann, the program offers a chamber-cameo of the fascinating composer Luca Francesconi.

Across the street over at the Staatsoper, Francesconi’s much-produced opera Quartett — based on Heiner Müller’s deconstruction of Les liaisons dangereuses — is at last getting its Berlin premiere. I well remember the US premiere production at the 2017 Spoleto Festival, which I covered for Musical America and Opera Now. And before the pandemic intervened, Francesconi’s new opera Timon of Athens was scheduled to be premiered at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing Francesconi and writing about his work for the Boulez Saal program book.

The video above is from an interview last year, when Barenboim premiered Daedalus, a work newly commissioned for Boulez Saal.

Filed under: Daniel Barenboim, new music, Pierre Boulez Saal

September 11, 2020 • 2:43 am Comments Off on Giora Feidman Trio: The Spirit of Klezmer

Giora Feidman Trio: The Spirit of Klezmer

Tonight Giora Feidman makes his long-awaited debut at Boulez Saal in Berlin — in his Trio formation, with friends Enrique Ugarte and Guido Jäger. Some background in my program essay here.

Filed under: klezmer, Pierre Boulez Saal

August 31, 2020 • 9:24 pm Comments Off on Boulez Saal: Season Opener

Boulez Saal: Season Opener

More signs of musical life returning: on Tuesday evening at Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Daniel Barenboim leads the Boulez Ensemble in the opening concert of the season: music by Schubert, Mozart, Berg, and Jörg Widmann, who also plays clarinet with the Ensemble. Widmann’s wild, far-ranging, at times terrifying new work Labyrinth IV — a continuation of his ongoing Labyrinth series, commissioned and premiered last year by Barenboim and the Boulez Ensemble, is the culminating work.

That premiere took place in June 2019, when Sir Peter Jonas and Daniel Barenboim curated the program celebrating the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung’s (WZB) 50th anniversary at the Pierre Boulez Saal. Jonas had been closely associated with the WZB and the Pierre Boulez Saal for many years.

The opening concert is dedicated to the memory of Sir Peter Jonas, who died this year on 22 April at the age of 73.

My program commentary can be found here.

Filed under: Pierre Boulez Saal

July 11, 2020 • 11:18 am Comments Off on Interview with Olga Neuwirth

Interview with Olga Neuwirth

Here’s a new interview with Olga Neuwirth conducted by Boulez Saal’s Philipp Brieler, discussing Pierre Boulez and Neuwirth’s new piece Naufraghi del mondo que hanno ancora un cuore — one of the new works premiered on Saturday’s program. The entire Festival of New Music: Distance/Intimacy is being streamed live and then archived for 30 days. You can find this program here (Neuwirth’s piece begins at 55:00).

Filed under: COVID-19 Era, new music, Olga Neuwirth, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez Saal

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