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MODERN AND BALLET MUSIC 70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Music Is (Also) Mathematics – the Complex Oeuvre of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Turns 65

BIRTHDAYS AND COMMEMORATION DAYS 2012 101207_sik0111_engl_k5_Layout 1Kopie08.12.1016:02Seite2 2|SIKORSKI magazine Dr. AxelSikorski Dagmar Sikorski music anditscreators! Discover withusthevarietyofthis represent anumberofcomposers. moreover, whereweareprivilegedto birthdays intheScandinaviancountries, is astrikingaccumulationofround brating aroundbirthdayin2012.There fascinating soundworlds,willbecele- tician, therebydiscoveringthemost ses hiscomplexscoreslikeamathema- Mahnkopf, whostructuresandorgani- The greatavant-gardistClaus-Steffen Arvo Pärt,isoutstanding. Lera Auerbach,Alfred for decades,withcomposers Neumeier, whohaslivedin reographer andballetdirectorJohn The cooperationoftheAmericancho- sing choreographersis. ween genuinecomposersandcompo- enced howclosetherelationshipbet- from ourcatalogues,wehaveexperi- numerous choreographiesofworks sequences ofmovement.From tones -moreorlesscomposersof composers whoorganiseandform choreographers areexactlylike a workofart.Regardedinthisway, the constructionanddesignof dictionary, compositionisnothingbut According totheDudenetymological Dear Reader, editorial Schnittke and Hamburg such as the NDRSymphonyOrchestra inthisconcert. Laeiszhalle inHamburg.Christoph Eschenbachwilldirect Orchestra byPeterRuzickaon 10February2011atthe world premiereof“EINSCHREIBUNG,”SixPiecesforLarge NDR Hamburg,”theannouncesanxiouslyawaited ‘EINSCHREIBUNG’ inresponsetoacommissionfromthe day. Ruzickahasnowcomposedhislatestwork through standasasignofutopiaforRuzickatothepresent romantic stringgesturesinwhichMahler’stoneshimmers a pointofdepartureforhisownaesthetic.“Largelate- Mahler’s musicwere,alreadyfortheyoungRuzicka, The contradictionsanddarkestdepthsofthesoulin the workofconductorandcomposerPeterRuzicka. the philosopherTheodorW.Adornoarecentralsubjectsin The musicofGustavMahleranditsinterpretationthrough in MemoryofMahler Ruzicka’s “EINSCHREIBUNG” NEWS 06 03 CONTENTS07 a ReasontoCelebrate: and 80thBirthdayofRodionShchedrin Music Is(Also)Mathematics– Modern BalletandMusic Not OnlyforAzerbaijan the ComplexOeuvreofClaus-SteffenMahnkopf 70th BirthdayofJohnNeumeier Franghiz Ali-ZadehTurns65 101207_sik0111_engl_k5_Layout 1 Kopie 08.12.10 16:02 Seite 3

COVER

Modern Ballet and Ballet Music 70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin THE PREMATURELY DECEASED CHOREOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR OF THE LEIPZIG BALLET COMPANY, UWE SCHOLZ, ONCE SAID: “THE DIFFICULT THING ABOUT DANCING IS SHOWING WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL ABOUT DANCING SO THAT WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL DOES NOT LOOK DIFFICULT.”

ust as difficult as dancing itself – the dancing great classical works of music hips are built up, questions are asked J direct expression of spiritual states such as ’s Third Symphony which frequently remain open. through movement and a controlled or Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.” Choreography and music ultimately bodily position – is finding the appro- Neumeier already formed a close con- allow a kaleidoscope-like structure to priate music for free or subject-bound nection to Alfred Schnittke during the arise in which the listener and spectator choreographies. Beyond full-length bal- 1980s, and during recent years he also gain impressions and can take their lets such as ’s “Romeo formed a close relationship with the own positions. and Juliet ” or “ Cinderella,” or Aram Russian-American composer Lera Khachaturian’s “Gayaneh,” many cho- Auerbach during the course of several ”A Streetcar Named Desire” reographers tend to compile their own sensational productions. Most choreo- based on Alfred Schnittke works out of many heterogeneous musi- graphers feel magically attracted to The Hamburg Ballet opened its guest cal sections with which to underpin their the strong radiance of the music of season 2010-2011 in autumn 2010 with choreographies. Schnittke. It creates associations which, the Baden-Baden premiere of von One of the greatest choreographers of among other things, have their origin in “A Streetcar Named Desire .” John the present day is unquestionably John the variety of overlapping and combina- Neumeier’s company gave seven guest Neumeier. He will be celebrating his tion of stylistic elements. It is known that performances at the Festspielhaus. 70th birthday on 24 February 2012, and the Polish modernist composer Witold Alongside the already legendary choreo- we can be sure that new choreographies Lutoslawski, who died in 1994, did not graphy based on Tennessee Williams’ and a number of excerpts from his ear- want his music to be used for ballet pro- theatre classic, they had a ballet work- lier gigantic production, in many cases ductions. For him, the scenic events shop as well as a “Hommage aux bound with composers of our publishing were a distraction from the musical Russes” in their baggage. company, will be seen to celebrate this substance; the listening experience was John Neumeier had already adapted occasion. his primary concern. Schnittke was com- Tennessee Williams’ famous drama “A John Neumeier has been the ballet pletely different: his music already at Streetcar named Desire” for a ballet in director and head choreographer of the times contains images within itself and Stuttgart in 1983; Marcia Haydée and Hamburg Ballet since 1973. He was born at least allows for a visualisation of the Richard Cragun danced the leading in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1942, recei- texture of relationships, if it doesn’t roles. The Hamburg premiere of ved his dance training in Copenhagen expressly require it. “Streetcar” then took place in 1987 with and later at the Royal Ballet School in Neumeier’s ambitions are clearly related Colleen Scott and Ivan Liška. London and was engaged by John to the musical concerns of Alfred In April and May 2010, the Norwegian Cranko for his in 1963. Schnittke. A story, whether the realisati- National Ballet presented it at the Oslo From 1969 until 1973, Neumeier was on of Shakespeare’s often retold Othello Opera House. In “Streetcar Named ballet director in Frankfurt am Main. In or the tale of Cinderella, is never a rigid Desire,” Neumeier uses the Symphony his choreographic works, he is concer- structure for him, with a framework No. 1 by Alfred Schnittke and the ned with finding contemporary forms for that must not be broken. The subject is “Visions fugitives ” Op. 22 by Sergei traditional ballet classics, but also for considerably expanded, new relations- Prokofiev.

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70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin

Schnittke’s and Neumeier’s for Neumeier, which was premiered with “Peer Gynt great success on 15 April 2005. After “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Concerning her collaboration with John “Othello,” which was based on Neumeier on this work, Lera Auerbach Schnittke’s Concerto grosso No. 1 , once said: “The peculiar quality of thea- among other works, it was above all the tre music is that there are extra-musical first full-length ballet music based on frames to work with. One needs to find Henrik Ibsen’s “ Peer Gynt ” that was to a balance between achieving what you manifest John Neumeier’s and Alfred intend to create artistically and yet Schnittke’s artistic collaboration and make it work organically together with attract international attention. all the dramatic requirements of the Neumeier admitted that he had dreamt of theatre. If music becomes only a servant WORKS CHOREOGRAPHED IN a collaboration like that between Mikhail of the dance, as happened with many BALLETS OF JOHN NEUMEIER Fokine and , and he wrote 19th century ballets, then it is a pro- Lera Auerbach: to Schnittke: “Later, when I worked on the blem. The other difficulty is the length. 24 Preludes for Violoncello and Piano ballet ‘Peer Gynt’ with you, Alfred, this With the Little Mermaid we have full (in “Préludes CV”) dream came true for me (...).” Neumeier three acts - and to sustain your best 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano (in has repeatedly stated how strongly quality within the span of a three-hour “Préludes CV”) Schnittke’s music inspired him to create production where the overall architec- “The Little Mermaid.” Ballet based on choreographic scenes. Schnittke, for his ture needs to hold the structure toget- H.C. Andersen part, designated the choreography of her is definitely a challenge.” “Eugene Onegin.” Ballet, premiere Neumeier as “something completely June 2012 novel, that in its multi-dimensionality has “Nijinsky” according never before existed.” And he asked to Shostakovich Gustav Mahler: Neumeier to be allowed to dedicate the The production “ Nijinsky” by John Symphony No. 10 (Mahler/Cooke) score of “Peer Gynt” to him – “if it Neumeier received its premiere on 2 26.06.2011 Premiere: Ballet at the Hamburg somehow corresponds to the meaning July 2000 at the Hamburg State Opera. State Opera of what you have created.” “Peer Gynt” The choreography is, according to t he Hamburg ballet director, not a dance-like was the first ballet that Neumeier desi- Arvo Pärt: gned in direct collaboration with a living sketch of the life of the great dancer and “Perpetuum mobile” (“Seven Haikus composer. However, this type of shared star of the Ballets russes, but a biogra- of the Moon”) work was new for Schnittke as well: “it phy of the soul, the feelings and conditi- (“Seven Haikus of the Moon”) stimulates me,” he said before the pre- ons of this artist who became so serious- miere on 22 January 1989. “I have never ly ill at the end of his life. To underpin his Sergej Prokofjew: before written a piece for ballet that I ballet visions, Neumeier makes use of “Visions fugitives” could develop together with a choreo- the music of Dmitri Shostakovich , (in “A Streetcar Named Desire”) grapher – based on inexhaustible among other works. One hears excerpts “Romeo and Juliet” material that allows for many contra- from the 11th Symphony “The Year “Cinderella” dictory interpretations.” 1905,” Op. 103 and the Sonata for Alfred Schnittke: Viola and Piano, Op. 147, the final work “Peer Gynt.“ Ballet in 3 Acts, a of this composer which can be under- Lera Auerbach and John Prologue and an Epilogue by John Neumeier Create “Préludes stood as a kind of legacy. Neumeier freely adapted from Henrik CV” and “The Little Mermaid” Ibsen’s Dramatic Poem At the beginning of the new millennium, Mahler Ballets Concerto grosso No. 1 for 2 Violins John Neumeier’s collaboration with Lera With his choreography of Gustav Mahler’s and Orchestra (in “Othello”) Auerbach was to become just as close as Third Symphony, John Neumeier created a Symphony No. 1 (in “A Streetcar was the relationship to Alfred Schnittke. In sensational choreography which allowed Named Desire”) 2003, Neumeier created a full-length bal- spectators to experience the music of the let to Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for great symphonist in a new perspective. Dmitri Schostakowitsch: Violoncello and Piano and the 24 Now, on 26 June 2011, his choreography to Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905,” Preludes for Violin and Piano . He com- the legendary Symphony No. 10 of Op. 103 (in “Nijinsky”) pletely involved himself in the music while Gustav Mahler in the version of the adap- creating the choreography, Neumeier ter Deryck Cooke will receive its pre- remembers. With his 17 solo roles which miere at the Hamburg State Opera. he allowed to appear in abstract dance- Rodion Shchedrin like formations, his ballet “ Préludes CV ” Choreography of Pärt Turns 80 assumed an exceptional position: “I don’t John Neumeier has also placed a work believe that there has been another ballet on the programme of the Hamburger “I have been lucky. Maya is a muse for in history with so many solo parts.” Ballet Days 2010 that he had once choreo- me. When this muse is also one’s own The second collaboration with Lera graphed for the Tokyo Ballet: “Seven wife, then that always helps. Only Auerbach was the celebrated work com- Haiku of the Moon.” This ballet has inspired me to missioned by the Royal Theatre in on an Asian subject is musically write ballets. I am never bored with my Copenhagen on the occasion of the illustrated by Arvo Pärt’ s well-known wife. She is paradoxical, sensitive, 200th birthday of Hans Christian “Perpetuum mobile” and the Sarabande feminine and educated. You know, Andersen. Auerbach composed the full- from the “ Collage on B-A-C-H ,” among people think I am a passionate ballet length ballet music “The Little Mermaid” other works. fan. But that is not true. Up until now,

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Modern Ballet and Ballet Music

I cannot call myself a ballet fanatic. I stantly alternating lyrical and dramatic Treplev, ultimately burns his manuscripts am instead a Maya fanatic ...” (quoted sections as well as broad melodic lines. and shoots himself. Far away, a seagull from: Rodion Shchedrin: A Modern Shchedrin’s most significant works for makes its way as the symbol of longing Russian Composer, Mainz 2008) the concert stage include Concerto No. and unfulfilled desires. Rodion Shchedrin was born in Moscow 1 “Brash Orchestral Jests,” “Music for on 16 December 1932. He studied at the City of Köthen” for chamber orche- Lady with Lapdog the Conservatory there from 1950 until stra, “Mnogiya Leta” for mixed choir, The young Anna and Dmitri meet at a spa. 1955 and taught at this institution piano and three groups of idiophone Both are attached but sense a strong during the 1960s. Shchedrin, who soon percussion instruments as well as attraction towards each other. Their sepa- became well known far beyond the “Stichira” for orchestra. ration is unbearable for both sides. When boundaries of his homeland, above all Dmitri meets Anna anew, it becomes clear representing the Russian music scene in The Humpbacked Pony to him that she is the only true love in his succession to Shostakovich in the West, This ballet is based on a tale by Pyotr life. She feels the same way but suffers was for many years the Chairman of the Yershov. The plot is quite classical for from the secrecy to which she is forced Russian Composers Union prior to the the fairytale genre. Three farmer through their meetings, which now take dissolution of the Soviet Union. Today brothers are assigned with the task of place ever more frequently. The open he lives in Moscow and Munich. Already observing their father’s wheat field, end of the story is not exclusively over- in 1976 he was named a corresponding which is always being devastated. Only shadowed by despair and resignation. member of the Bavarian Academy of the youngest brother succeeds in the The lovers live in the certainty that some- Fine Arts and has also been a member taking the culprit into custody. The beau- day a solution will be found and a new of the Berlin Academy of the Arts since tiful mare buys her freedom, however, by life will begin. 1989. giving him two horses with golden manes Shchedrin’s catalogue of works compri- and a humpbacked pony. Of course the ses symphonies, concertos, numerous elder brothers claim the beautiful animals choral compositions operas and cham- for themselves and leave the humpbacked ber music. But the composer has beco- pony for the youngest brother. But this me primarily renowned for his ballets, pony stands courageously by his side especially “Anna Karenina” based on during the further course of the story, Leo Tolstoy from the year 1971. Like even enabling him to win the heart of the many other works of this genre, this bal- Tsar’s daughter. let was composed for his wife Maya Plisetskaya, one of Russia’s greatest prima ballerinas. Almost all of his ballets The subject of the opera is based on a were premiered at the Bolschoi Theatre: novelette by the French romanticist “Carmen Suite ” (1967), “ ” Prosper Mérimée: the beautiful Carmen (1979) und “Lady with Lapdog” (1985). attracts the attention of Don José. When The "Carmen Suite," an ingenious adap- a loud argument arises with the other CURRENT CDs/DVDs WITH tation of the opera by Georges Bizet for female workers in a cigarette factory, BALLET MUSIC BY RODION strings and percussion, meanwhile Carmen is also arrested but can get out of SHCHEDRIN belongs to the most frequently perfor- it thanks to her arts of seduction. From med ballets suites of the twentieth cen- now on the young Don José has fallen vic- CDs tury. In this work, the composer Rodion tim to her. When Carmen then falls in love Carmen-Suite Shchedrin above all reveals himself to with the bullfighter Escamillo and wants to a. Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, cond.: be a refined practical musician, orche- leave Don José, the jealous man, full of Misha Rachlevsky. – CLAVES 50-2207 strator and arranger. despair, stabs her. b. Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, In his compositions, Shchedrin combines cond.: Michael Sanderling. – elements of folklore and traditional sty- Anna Karenina GENUIN GEN 87522 listic means reflecting the great Russian In a passionate novel, Leo Tolstoy tells of DVDs classics such as Dmitri Kabalevsky and the passionate love of the beautiful, mar- Anna Karenina Dmitri Shostakovich together with ried Anna Karenina for the young officer Bolschoi Theatre, cond.: Yuri Simonov, modern compositional methods inclu- Vronsky. She ultimately sacrifices her exi- Choreography by Maya Plisetskaya ding collage and aleatorics. His beauti- stence to him and leaves her husband and from the year 1974. – ful, palatable “Anna-Karenina” music, son. She returns full of remorse, but is VAI DVD 4286 illustrative almost in the manner of socially scorned. When Vronsky finally film music, contrasts sharply with poly- turns his attention to the young Princess Carmen-Suite phonically complex, strict and uncom- Sorokina, Anna Karenina throws herself in Bolschoi Theatre, cond.: Gennady promising compositions such as the front of a train. Roshdestvensky, Choreography by ”Music for the City of Köthen. ” Alberto Alonso from the year 1969. – From Sergei Prokofiev, who also stron- The Seagull VAI DVD 4294 gly influenced Shchedrin’s manner of ’s drama of the same The Humpbacked Pony composing, Shchedrin takes over the name is a psychological drama. The sym- Bolschoi Theatre, cond.: Zoya tendency towards marked rhythms and bol for the unconditional will to live and Tulubyeva, Choreography by a constructive, comprehensible, clear insatiable longing of the main character Alexander Radunsky from the year 1969. – gestural language. The force of tension Nina Sarechnaya is the seagull. The prota- VAI DVD 4294 and definite versatility of his music are gonist divides her love between two men. nourished by his play with timbres, con- One of them, the author Konstantin

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Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

Music Is (Also)Mathematics – the Complex Oeuvre of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf His music is not easy to play, nor can it be easily or directly comprehended. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf is the great intellectual among the composers of the present day, but not one to hide behind thought structures, let alone refuse to make statements about his works.

umerous book publications, includ- All of the works of his music, as in the harpsichord piece N ing the volume of essays “The Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf so “Pegasos” on Mahnkopf’s portrait CD Humanity of Music” published by Wolke far published by Sikorski issued by Wergo make listening to his Verlag, bear witness to Mahnkopf’s verbal have already been issued or works a genuine experience. One listens art of representation, which also helps will soon be issued in the excitedly to the hesitation and flow, and many people to understand his musical series “exempla nova.” to procedures sometimes making a structures. Mahnkopf understands the chaotic effect. However, Mahnkopf unity of composing, for example, as fol- Mahnkopf’s “ Hommage à Frank Cox ” organises this apparent chaos and lows: “All composers are bound together for piano, quarter-tone vibraphone and notates it in the greatest detail. His work by a common problem: the necessity to electric guitar received its world pre- as a composer during recent years is, he help the organisation of the material and miere in Leipzig on 11 November 2011 says, not characterised by a centre, a its structuring to find an existence at all, or performed by the ‘Ensemble asamisi- midpoint on which everything that hap- to add a surcharge to its conventional masa’ from Oslo. As so often, the com- pens is centripetally related. “Because form. Whoever does not do this is not a poser does not merely have a point of there is no centre, there are no centrifu- composer in the sense we mean in departure, but approaches his subject gal forces either. Instead, I would much Western history. (...) The work on the gen- from different sides. This piece, for rather speak of a topology. This term uine problems and the demand to not example, is about a musician whom the designates a partial area of mathematics exactly show oneself as unperturbed in composer praises from his high degree which treats spatial forms extending them is, alongside the much stronger of specialisation as a cellist, his complex- beyond geometry. As opposed to geo- objective motivation, a reason for materi- ity as a composer and his penetration of metrical figures, the space that my music al progress. (...) The unity of composing the given material as an author. defines cannot be fixed through axioms will be tenacious in the future as well, sim- Mahnkopf selected three instruments to and formulas. It is flexible, semi-morphic, ply for reasons of an imposed demarca- represent these three levels. The vibra- non-linear, indeed non-constant.” tion from arrangement and computer- phone is to be understood as a sugges- organised simulation.” Claus-Steffen tion of a keyboard on which the author Mahnkopf, from Mannheim, will turn 50 types, the piano corresponds to the on 22 October 2012. He studied compo- place where the composer looks for sition with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus sounds and the electric guitar represents Current World Premieres Huber and Emanuel Nunes, piano with the performance of the practical musi- of Works by James Avery, music theory Peter Förtig cian. The three musicians play independ- Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf: and also musicology, philosophy and ently of each other for the most part, other subjects with Jürgen Habermas as although they are temporally coordinat- 28.01.2011 Luxembourg well as sociology with Ludwig von ed. “Morphologically speaking, my point „Hommage à Wolfram Schurig“, Friedeberg. In 1993 he received his Ph.D. of departure was the (very simple) sinus Luxemburg with a dissertation on Arnold Schönberg. wave, the mathematical function of Alongside his compositional activities, he which I continually enriched through 13.03.2011 Salzburg has published over 120 essays, written five additives, so that the formal sections of « Petit Hommage à Thomas Tallis » books and edited ten others. In these he all three instruments could be formed Stadler Quartet, treats not only subjects from the area of like a large network of variations.“ Salzburg Biennale Ensemble contemporary music but also composer The refinement of the sound texture, the personalities such as Wagner and Cage as richness of variety of the individual sec- well as the musical philosophy of Adorno. tions and the incredibly radiant power of

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Franghiz Ali-Zadeh NEWS Mixed-Form Combining Requiem and Symphony Symphony No. 8 for choir and orchestra by the Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer received its world premiere on 11 January performed by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Michail Jurowski in Katowice. The idea of composing a “Sinfonia da Requiem” arose through Meyer’s desire to dedicate a symphonic work to anti-Semitism and the persecution of the Jews. The general form of the symphony emerged when Meyer became acquainted with the work of the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski. He selected four poems from the many which deal with this subject. The subject of the first poem is the massacre of the Jewish inhabitants of the town of Jedwabny in Poland. Meyer dedicates the second poem, entitled “Unwritten Elegy for Krakow Jews,” to the Not Only for Azerbaijan a part of town called Kazimierz in Krakow, which was principally inhabited by Jews until the war. In the third poem, the poet Reason to Celebrate: Zagaejwski remains us of the existing indif- ference, this time for the children who Franghiz Ali-Zadeh were murdered during the war and in the last poem, Zagajewski refers to Persephone of antiquity who “goes under Turns 65 the earth in a summer dress, with the large One of the most important composers eyes of a Jewish child of the present will celebrate her 65th birthday on 28 May 2012. British Premiere of Weinberg’s Opera ranghiz Ali-Zadeh was born in As a pianist, Ali-Zadeh has been strong- “The Portrait” F Baku/Azerbaijan. Trained as a ly committed to the works of contempo- pianist and composer at the conservato- rary composers of the former Soviet ry in her home city, she passed examina- Union. Moreover, it is thanks to her ini- tions in piano in 1970 and in composi- tiative that works of the Second tion in 1972, following these with a peri- Viennese School and composers such as od as aspirant with Kara Karayev from Olivier Messiaen, John Cage and 1973 until 1976. In 1989 she received George Crumb received their first per- here doctorate with the dissertation on formances in Baku. “Orchestration in Works of Azerbaijani In her numerous works, the composer Composers.” Starting in 1976 she taught attempts to bridge the gap between the music history at the Baku Conservatory Western avant-garde and the music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera “The geschichte and, as a professor, the sub- her native Azerbaijan as well as other Portrait” received its first performance on jects of contemporary music and the his- regions of the Near East. A central work 31 July during the course of the Bregenz tory of orchestral styles from 1990 cycle of recent years is summarised Festival. In the production by David onwards. From 1993 until 1996 she under the comprehensive designation Pountney, the British premiere of the served as choral director at the opera “Silk Road.” work will now be performed in English by house in Mersin (Turkey) and then was a the Opera North Leeds on 2 February lecturer for two years in piano and music 2011. At the centre of the opera’s plot theory at the conservatory there. Ali- stands a young painter who struggles for Zadeh worked in Baku again during the Current Premieres of Works his place in art history no less than for his years 1998 and 1999. Since then she has by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: economical existence. Through the acqui- primarily lived in Germany. sition of an old picture, he suddenly In 1980 Ali-Zadeh received the prize of 30.01.2011 achieves boundless wealth from which he the Azerbaijani Composers’ Union. In Amsterdam allows himself to be dazzled and corrup- 1990 she was awarded the title “Artist of World Premiere of an Ensemble Work ted, so that he loses sight of his actual Merit” of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam calling. As so often with Gogol, from Republic. In November 2000 she whose literary oeuvre Dmitri Shostakovich received the honorary title “People’s 20.-25.05.2011 also selected the model for his grotesque Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” Houston Grand Opera early opera “The Nose,” the obsession Since 1989 she has been a member of World Premiere of an Opera determines the fate of the protagonist. the Schönberg Society in Los Angeles.

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