I will be offering a preparatory workshop soon again for music theory entrance exams at music universities in North Rhine Westphalia, organised by Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband NRW. Please notify your students who consider an application in Cologne, Detmold, Düsseldorf, Essen, or Münster!
» Thursday and Friday, 16–17 May, 2024 | 3–7 pm
» online via Zoom | participation fee: EUR 65
» click here for the registration form
My composition Song without Words for solo harp will be included as a compulsory piece in the 10th Competition for Harpists of the Verband der Harfenisten Deutschland. The event takes place in the Thüringer Landesmusikakademie Sondershausen, 1–5 May 2024. If you happen to be in Thuringia at the next weekend, please stop by! The piece will be performed by about 15 young contestants, aged 10–12 years, on 4 May, 9 am to 4 pm.
On the occasion of the #womencomposersday, I will be playing a few pieces from French-German composer Marie Jaëll‘s piano cycle Les jours pluvieux (1894) live on my Facebook page. I’d be delighted if you tuned in on Friday, 8 March, at 1 pm CET, to listen to some unjustly rarely performed music. Thanks to Arno Lücker for launching this initiative! See here for the full line-up, featuring some highly valued musicians and ensembles.
My adorable children start entering the stages of Berlin! This coming weekend, Lionel will have his own music performed by a professional ensemble for the first time. His minuet for five instruments is presented in the closing concert of a composition workshop led by Jobst Liebrecht on Saturday, 24 February, 12 noon, at Apollosaal of Staatsoper Unter den Linden. On that same day he will also appear as a guitarist in the regional competition of Jugend musiziert.
In the meantime Cosima is rehearsing as a harpist with the Children’s Opera Orchestra of the Staatsoper and Giuseppe Mentuccia, preparing music by Antonín Dvořák and Marius Felix Lange soon to be performed. The first concert will take place on Good Friday, 29 March, 11:30 am, at the Staatsoper. Besides, both children have been accepted for the talent promotion programme of Musikschule Fanny Hensel.
Recently I had the chance to listen to several performances of choral music by Lili Boulanger, which struck me as extraordinarily beautiful and appealing both in structure and atmosphere. In particular, there were the profound setting of Psalm 130, which I heard in a concert of Cantus Domus Berlin, and Vieille prière bouddhique with Unichor Düsseldorf. In this context I consider myself lucky to participate in performances of Boulanger’s compositions Hymne au soleil, Sous bois, and La source very soon! These pieces are part of an all-French concert programme for mixed chorus and piano, also including music by Francis Poulenc and Morten Lauridsen, and staged by Vokalsystem Berlin, conductor Johannes David Wolff, and pianist Artschi Loyan. So this is a cordial invitation to our »Realités absurdes«, taking place at Martin-Luther-Kirche Berlin-Neukölln on 17–18 February! Please refer to this website for tickets.
