BNOKmusic

Today I am very pleased to announce that after twenty years I finally finished another opera. It is called EWIGER FRIEDEN and is basically a one-act chamber opera (5 singers, 12 instrumentalists, 5 scenes, about 60 minutes). The work was commissioned by sirene operntheater and will be performed next year in Vienna as part of a cycle of seven chamber operas named Misericordia . The libretto of my opera is by  Kristine Tornquist and is downright ideal for me and my ideas about what opera should be. The story is set in a funeral home, but the opera mixes tragic and comic aspects in a way that these aspects don't only alternate but interpenetrate each other so that both are present during the whole piece. Furthermore the dramaturgy strongly supports the scenic and the musical aspects at once, and last but not least the cadence and rhythm of the text are so musical that they made it very easy for me to set. The cast of my opera is composed of one soprano, one tenor and t

Today, I finished the second book of my moments musicaux for piano. The first one is from 1989 - nearly 30 years old, some parts even older and one of the first pieces I still consider as a personal work, even though I was still a student then. It was performed a couple of times then, (I still remember my colleague Olga Neuwirth laughing during a performance at the MDW, probably because of the work's vague affinity to minimal music.) The idea to compose a cycle of piano pieces, each dedicated to a pianist friend, was attractive then as it is now. I have planned to continue this cycle for quite a long time. In the meantime, I composed only two significant solo piano works: FRENZY (quasi una toccata, 1999) and CURTAINS (piano sonata 2, 2015). This year, I started thinking seriously about continuing this cycle, and tragically, one of the planned dedicatees, Ilse Schumann , a brilliant pianist and wonderful person, died very unexpectedly and way to early. After the first shock,

The BNews - 02-03-18 Brand New Works 02/2018      chernobyl astrays Bm177 for alto flute and harp (9')   beyond the veil Bm178/1 for piano (8') (in memoriam Ilse Schumann) In 1989, I composed a set of three moments musicaux, dedicated to three pianist friends. I wanted to continue with two new sets (three pieces each). One of these pieces was planned to be dedicated to Ilse Schumann, who was a friend and a great pianist and who performed with Reconsil several times. Before I was able to put my intention into practice, she passed away very unexpectedly and much too early. This work is dedicated to her memory. beyond the veil, page 1

The BNews - 19-02-18 New arrangement On June 3rd, Ensemble Kontrapunkte will perform my brand new arrangement of music by Silvestre Revueltas at Brahms-Saal, Musikverein Wien . It is based on sketches for a ballet called "Velorio", which means "death watch". For me it was quite a weird experience, because the music is not at all sad as a european would expect, but most of the time cheerful or grotesque. Many thanks to Angélica Castelló for translating the scenario and explaining the cultural background of this piece to me! In Mexico, death is not always taken dead serious, as one can clearly see in the way Mexicans celebrate the day of the dead . In this ballet, relatives and friends come to say goodbye to a deceased person, later angels and devils join the death watch. The guests are drinking, telling stories, dancing (the famous Mexican waltz "Sobre las olas" by Juventino Rosas is quoted quite prominently in the score - see illustration) and

The BNews - 10-02-18 Brand New Works 01/2018 Puppets and Strings (Petrushka's Ghost) Bm 175 for violin and piano (9') page 16 from Puppets and Strings (Petrushka's Ghost) EARTH RHYTM ZERO Bm176  for two violins and piano (12') World Premiere:  24-09-2018, BankAustria Salon im Alten Rathaus , Vienna, Austria World Premiere of IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH Reconsil will perform IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH at REAKTOR on February 20th, along with works by Anahita Abbasi, Oren Boneh, Pablo Carrascosa, Steffen Krebber and Wen Liu.