The Arts

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Salzburg festival commissions new operas from Kurtag, Dalbavie, Ades and Widmann

By: Ronald Blum, The Associated Press

Posted: 11/17/2011 11:54 AM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 11/17/2011 12:13 PM

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Salzburg Festival has commissioned new operas from composers Gyorgy Kurtag, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Thomas Ades and Jorg Widmann that will premiere one per summer from 2013-16.

The ambitious program of contemporary music was announced this week by new artistic director Alexander Pereira, who will oversee the Austrian festival for the first time next summer.

"Salzburg has to be adventurous," Pereira said. "The fact that we decided to commission these works means Salzburg wants to be ahead of the newest developments. These elements were very important to me, that Salzburg pushes forward the development of contemporary music."

Pereira said it was too soon to announce casting.

"This is too much of an egg that hasn't been laid," he said.

Kurtag, a Hungarian who will be 86 in February, is composing an opera based on Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" that will open in 2013.

Dalbavie, a French composer who turns 51 in February, follows in 2014 with an opera based on Richard Powers' "The Time of our Singing," a 2003 novel about a biracial American couple who meet at a Marian Anderson concert in 1939.

Dalbavie premiered his first opera, "Gesualdo," in October 2010 at the Zurich Opera, where Pereira is in his 21st and final season as general manager. That work was based on the life of composer Carlo Gesualdo in the 16th and early 17th century.

Subject matter for the latter two works has not been finalized.

Ades, a 40-year-old whose work opens in 2015, is known for "Powder Her Face," a 1995 chamber opera that debuted at England's Almeida Opera, and "The Tempest," which earned rave reviews at The Royal Opera in London seven years ago and is coming to New York's Metropolitan Opera next season.

The opera of the 38-year-old Widmann will debut in 2016. In 2003, his "Gesicht im Spiegel (The Face in the Mirror)" opened at the Munich Festival in Germany, a futuristic work with a mad scientist and a wife's clone.

Known for conservatism under Herbert von Karajan from 1957-89, the Salzburg Festival took an avant-garde turn under Gerard Mortier (1990-01).

Past world premieres at the festival have included Richard Strauss' "Die Liebe der Danae" (1952), Luciano Berio's "Un re in ascolto" (1984) and Kaija Saariaho's "L'amour de loin" (2000).

Fact Check

Have you found an error, or know of something we’ve missed in one of our stories? Please use the form below and let us know.

* Required

In which story did you find the error? *
Please post the headline of the story or the title of the video with the error.
What was the error? *
Please post exactly what was wrong with the story.
What should we have written?
Please indicate your source for the correct information.
Who else should we interview to improve this story?
Please include any contact information you may have.
Can we contact you in the future for advice on stories about this topic?
Yes

No
First Name: *
Last Name: *
E–mail Address: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Phone: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Colour:
Are you blue? If you can see this, leave it blank and get some CSS support.
Enter the words that you see: * This is to prevent our forms from being filled out automatically.
You have failed to correctly identify the words in the box above. Please try again.

More The Arts

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.