New York’s Prototype Festival presents the world premiere of Terce: A Practical Breviary, Jan. 10-20. The opera, with music and libretto by Heather Christian, was inspired by the writings of three female mystics, including Hildegard von Bingen, is billed as “a radical rethinking of a monastic 9:00 AM mass that reimagines the face of the […]
Adoration is a new opera by Mary Kouyoumdjian based on the film by Atom Egoyan, examining terrorism, mass hysteria, and personal loss from the perspective of an orphaned teen. The world premiere will take place on Jan. 11-21 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture as part of the Prototype Festival. https://prototypefestival.org/shows/adoration/
A pipa is a traditional Chinese instrument similar to a lute, and Wu Man is a widely acclaimed pipa master. She joins the Philadelphia Orchestra on Jan. 11 and 13, 2024, for the world premiere of Du Yun’s Pipa Concerto. Guest conductor Anna Sułkowska-Migoń will also lead the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 as well […]
The current holder of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Sandbox Composer Residency, Brazilian-American composer and singer Clarice Assad is writing a new work that will receive its world premiere with SPCO on Jan. 12-13. The program also includes movements from autobiographical pieces by Smetana and Janáček. https://content.thespco.org/events/assad-janacek-and-smetana/
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican composer and performer who works with experimental instruments. During the world premiere of some new songs by Negrón, at the Kaufmann Music Center on Jan. 18, she will use “playable sculptures” co-created by botanical artist Sophie Parker. https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/angelica-negron-sophie-parker/
On Jan. 19, the Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative will perform the world premieres of three 20-minute operas by paired teams of young composers and librettists and performed by young artists in this mentorship program’s 11th year. A chamber orchestra made up of musicians from the WNO Orchestra will accompany. https://www.kennedy-center.org/wno/home/2023-2024/aoi-20-minute-operas/
The inspiring story of Helen Keller’s life will be told in the world premiere of Touch at Opera Birmingham on Jan. 19-21. Carla Lucero is the composer as well as co-librettist along with Marianna Mott Newirth. https://www.operabirmingham.org/touch
A new work by Rob Kapilow, called We Came to America, will receive its world premiere with the New Jersey Symphony, featuring the JCC Young People’s Chorus at Thurnauer, Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and Ember Choral Arts. Music director Xian Zhang will also conduct William Grant Still’s Darker America and two pieces […]
Victoria Bond has written a new work called Anne Frank’s Tree, which will receive its world premiere on Jan. 20. The Indianapolis Chamber Music program called Silenced Voices will also include some music banned by the Nazis by Korngold and Franz Schreker. Julian Rhee is the soloist for the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. https://www.icomusic.org/concerts/silenced-voices/
In 2022, with funding from Chamber Music America, the Balourdet Quartet commissioned and premiered Strange Machines by Canadian-American composer Karim Al-Zand. In the 2023-24 season, they are touring the work, including their Jan. 21 stop at the San Antonio Chamber Music Society. The program also includes Mozart’s 15th Quartet and Beethoven’s Op. 59, No. 1. […]
The 92nd St. Y presents the New York premiere of The Garden of Good and Evil on Jan. 25, a musical compilation by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, music director Richard Egarr, and countertenor/dramaturg Reginald Mobley. The work is an exploration of the Biblical creation story, pairing Handel arias with modern movements for Baroque forces by Errollyn […]
Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski’s Om fotspår och ljus (Of Footprints and Light – Helsinki Variations) will receive its U.K. premiere with the London Symphony on Feb. 4. Another Finn is on the program: Jean Sibelius, whose Symphony No. 2 will be conducted by Thomas Søndergård. Leif Ove Andsnes is the soloist for Beethoven’s Fifth Piano […]
