PRESS KIT räsonanz – Stifterkonzert Lucerne 2017 CONTENTS ABOUT THE INITIATIVE Mission Statement räsonanz – Stifterkonzerte Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung Press Release Interview with Michael Roßnagl, Michael Haefliger and Winrich Hopp by Max Nyffeler Preview of räsonanz in Munich 2018 räsonanz – STIFTERKONZERT LUCERNE 2017 Program Biography Wolfgang Rihm Biography Performers – Anna Prohaska – Mojca Erdmann – Hanno Müller-Brachmann – Mariss Jansons – Bavarian Radio Choir Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra PHOTO OVERVIEW ABOUT THE INITIATIVE räsonanz Stifterkonzerte With the donor concert series räsonanz, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation lives up to its responsibility for providing contemporary music in a special way. Together with its partners LUCERNE FESTIVAL and musica viva of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the foundation enables one concert in Munich as well as one in Lucerne every year featuring international top-ranking orchestras and acclaimed soloists performing the works of presentday composers. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation accordingly reinforces the foundation’s idea: Ernst von Siemens stands for entrepreneurial reason and unique vision, for social responsibility and ambitious promotion of science and arts. Social impact and artistic demand, daring change of perspective and the beauty of the unprecedented – all this becomes evident when contemporary music defines, explores and exceeds its limits. räsonanz is challenging as well as demanding and räsonanz wants to support; the willingness to embark on the unfamiliar and the appreciation of the “new” within New Music. www.evs-musikstifung.ch www.lucernefestival.ch www.br-musica-viva.de Press Release, April 2017 räsonanz – Donors’ Concert 2017 in Lucerne Swiss Premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen As part of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation’s initiative räsonanz – Donors’ Concerts, the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Bavarian Radio, under the baton of Mariss Jansons, will guest at the Easter Festival of the Lucerne Festival with the Swiss premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen. After a successful räsonanz – Donors’ Concert 2017 in Munich with Teodor Currentzis, the MusicAeterna Choir from Perm and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, coming Saturday will see a further räsonanz – Donors’ Concert in Lucerne too. ‘Nearly 20 years ago, Pierre Boulez himself – as a member of the advisory board – expressed his wish for the foundation to participate more actively in the contemporary music scene and launch initiatives of its own. This aspect of the foundation’s work, initiated by the great composer, has certainly reached its provisional culmination with räsonanz’, states Michael Rossnagl, Managing Director of the EvS Music Foundation. The goal of the initiative is for leading international orchestras to present performances of contemporary works for large forces in Munich and Lucerne. Mariss Jansons with the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Bavarian Radio at the Lucerne Festival On 8 April 2017, Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra will be heard in Switzerland for the first time. The former Ernst von Siemens Music Prize laureate Mariss Jansons will conduct the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Bavarian Radio. The solo parts will be sung by the sopranos Anna Prohaska and Mojca Erdmann, as well as the baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann. The work, commissioned by musica viva, was premiered in Munich on 30 March 2017 and was lauded by audience and press alike. With texts by Hans Sahl, Johannes Bobrowski, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Rainer Maria Rilke and a psalm, Wolfgang Rihm compiled an unusual and highly personal selection for his new evening-length choral work. In an interview with Max Nyffeler, Rihm said of his new work: ‘Here the concern was to create an awareness of an individual problem: the case of homo reus, the guilty human. But it’s not about eschatological excitations, some visions of horror from the Final Judgement. I tried to write a form of requiem without this apocalyptic threat in the background.’ Directly before the concert, Mark Sattler, Dramaturge for Contemporary Music at the Lucerne Festival, will offer an introduction to the programme in the auditorium of the KKL. Lucerne Festival Ticketing & Visitor Service: Tel. +41 (0)41 226 44 80 | [email protected] Contact: Nina Steinhart | +41 / (0) 41 226 44 – 43 | [email protected] Imke List and Dr Tanja Pröbstl | +49 / (0)89 / 6 36 3 29 – 07 | [email protected] www.evs-musikstiftung.ch | www.lucernefestival.ch Interview: November 2015 in Lucerne The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation’s räsonanz initiative Max Nyffeler in conversation with Michael Roßnagl, Michael Haefliger and Winrich Hopp. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation’s „räsonanz“ initiative will give new stimulus to contemporary orchestral music. Max Nyffeler spoke about the background and aims of the project with three of those who are directly involved: Michael Roßnagl, Secretary of the Board of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Winrich Hopp, artistic director of musica viva Munich, and Michael Haefliger, director of the Lucerne Festival. NYFFELER: Mr Roßnagl, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation’s räsonanz concert series is a new way of promoting contemporary music. What is the idea behind it? ROßNAGL: Currently we support contemporary music projects and award our annual music prize, as well as the prizes for young composers. We are very happy with the way things are going. räsonanz is about taking the initiative ourselves. This idea is, by the way, very much in accordance with something our trustee Pierre Boulez once said: “Do something yourselves, too!” Our initiative is directed at contemporary oarchestral music and we are focussing, for the moment, on two places: Munich, with its important musica viva concert series; and Lucerne with a festival that is showing the way for the integration of modern music into ‘normal’ concert programmes. The fact that the Foundation has its management in Munich and its headquarters in Switzerland was also a factor in choosing the locations. NYFFELER: So it wasn’t the organisers who took the initiative, it was the Foundation? ROßNAGL: That’s right . NYFFELER: What do you think about this initiative, Mr Haefliger? HAEFLIGER: It’s beyond our wildest dreams. For a festival like ours, which has clear ambitions in the area of contemporary music, it’s a wonderful stroke of luck. A partner comes along and asks “what would you like to do and what do you need to do it? We’ll help!” It’s not just about financing a commission for a new composition, it’s about creating the right conditions for today’s music. An open space is being created. This is fantastic, particularly at a moment when many things in the Arts are being called into question. HOPP: I agree with this appraisal. The initiative sets an example in the world of international orchestral music. It says: look, we are doing something for contemporary music ‒ specifically for music from the second half of the 20th century up until the present. NYFFELER: How does this model actually work? ROßNAGL: The organisers plan a project, and we guarantee that it can take place by taking on the deficiency guarantee up to a certain amount. NYFFELER: As a rule, you support projects for up to three years. It seems to be different in this case. ROßNAGL: Yes. It is our own initiative, so we can offer longer term perspectives. NYFFELER: How are the programmes decided on, und what is the Foundation’s role? HAEFLIGER: All three partners work together closely. ROßNAGL: Of course the members of the Board are invited to take part in the discussions. We are all in close contact, and we can sense a strong feeling of common purpose. HOPP: It’s important to note that it is an initiative of the Foundation. The concerts are Foundation concerts, and we, the organisers in in Lucerne und Munich, develop the artistic concept in cooperation with the Board of Trustees. NYFFELER: So tell me about the details! What will the programmes be like? HOPP: The first concert will take place on 27th February – without Lucerne, for the moment – in the context of a musica viva concert weekend. The programme consists of works by George Benjamin, Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti und Georg Friedrich Haas. George Benjamin will conduct the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. The programme is representative of the orchestra’s artistic achievements during the seventy years of its existence. The cooperation with the Lucerne Festival will take effect from 2017. This will take various forms. We can engage an orchestra together for concerts in Lucerne and Munich, either on consecutive days, or, if the dates don’t suit, with some time in between. Or we can invite two orchestras with two different programmes, and so on. We are very flexible in this regard. NYFFELER: The concerts in Lucerne: will they take place in summer, and are they part of the Festival Academy or are they integrated into the normal programme? HAEFLIGER: As far as the date is concerned, we are very open, it could even be at Easter. And where exactly these concerts fit into the context of the whole programme will vary from case to case. It depends on the constellation. NYFFELER: The musica viva concert series is associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Will there be any change here? HOPP: No. It was always part of musica viva’s tradition to invite guest orchestras and ensembles ‒ from Ensemble Modern to Ensemble Intercontemporain and the German Radio Symphony orchestras, to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmonic in the 60s and 70s. A musica viva season usually consists of ten events. Five of these make up the heart of the series: these are the concerts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Foundation’s initiative allows us the take international guest orchestras into consideration. NYFFELER: Does that mean that in the future one musica viva concert will be performed by a guest orchestra? HOPP: Yes, but to be quite clear, this is not an additional concert! The Foundation’s initiative does not replace anything, it adds and enriches.