We're having a celebrity guest at the start of our weekend with the Bavarian State Opera: Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, a member of the ensemble from 2012 to 2016, is a sought-after singer who performs on the world's most important opera and concert stages. She sings Alexander Zemlinsky's extended setting of a poem by Richard Dehmel, whose poetry also inspired Arnold Schoenberg to create his most famous piece, the sextet "Transfigured Night." Interspersed with Richard Wagner's Tristan-like Wesendonck Lieder: unimagined bliss...

The Bavarian State Opera in Blaibach – Polyphonic

Blaibach Concert Hall

Fin de siècle

Casino Bern

In his 2023 CSO subscription debut, Conrad Tao gave a “dazzling, staggering” performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, wrote the Chicago Tribune, in which Tao “carried his melodies masterfully.” As part of the CSO’s monthlong focus on American music, the Illinois native returns with a selection of Gershwin song arrangements interspersed with works by Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Schoenberg and Robert Schumann.

EPSG:4326

Conrad Tao

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The season finale features the return of Joyce Yang in Rachmaninoff’s exhilarating Piano Concerto No. 3, one of the most intricate, demanding and passionate works in the repertoire. Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers opens the evening with dramatic urgency, leading into Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, a hauntingly beautiful journey from turmoil to resolution.

Rachmaninoff’s Third

Jacoby Symphony Hall

Serenades were popular and accessible works for entertainment at festive occasions in aristocratic circles and at court, readily and frequently commissioned, and thus an important source of income for composers. Because they were traditionally performed in the evening and often outdoors, they were frequently written for wind instruments. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's greatest string serenade became his most popular work of all time, a hit par excellence. However, the "Little Night Music" (serenade translated into German) is more than just a beautiful occasional work: the string ensemble, the artistry of the voice writing, and the classical proportions of the movements indicate that the work was conceived more as sophisticated chamber music than as pure, "light" entertainment music.

Night Music

Bochumer Symphoniker

Schoenberg was one of the most revolutionary & challenging composers, but his early works are among the most lyrical & romantic pieces ever written. Mahler’s heart-rending Adagietto needs little introduction and is regularly in the Top 40 of Classic FM’s annual Hall of Fame, while Schoenberg’s impassioned Transfigured Night is a musical realisation of a Richard Dehmel poem, in which a young woman confesses to her betrothed that she bears another man’s child, conceived before they met. His acceptance of her, and resolve to raise the baby as theirs, is one of the most touching moments in classical music.

English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Schoenberg, Mahler, Elgar, Taylor & Copland

Cheltenham Town Hall

Sinfonia Smith Square Fellowship Orchestra performs Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, inspired by a poem following a two lovers’ emotions through infidelity and forgiveness. Schoenberg’s sublime work is passionate and deeply moving; with rich Romantic melodies, it is what some consider the greatest sextet ever written.

Transfigured Night

Smith Square Hall

Chamber Music in the Brahms-Saal

Musikverein Wien

In 1899, at the age of 25, Schoenberg composed The Transfigured Night , a string sextet inspired by a poem about a couple's nighttime walk on the moor. The woman confesses to the man that she is expecting a child that is not his, but he forgives her and promises to raise the child as his own. Schoenberg gave his consent to the piano trio version that his student Eduard Steuermann would create in 1932. Presented by Guy Lemaire, president of the Friends of the Orchestra, this concert also benefits from the projection of illustrations by Audrey Gallez, interviews with the composer, and surtitles allowing the audience to follow Richard Dehmel's poem.

The Transfigured Night

Philharmonic Hall of Liege

Alec Fore, tenor

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Leah Amory, violin

Curtis Institute of Music

Wind Ensemble – Nick Hinman, conductor (Doctoral Recital)

Auer Hall

The Chicago Tribune praised the playing of Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma as "absolutely stunning." With her, we are privileged to experience one of classical music's most distinctive and captivating figures in Beethoven's Violin Concerto. The wonderful Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn provides competent accompaniment and transfigured sounds.

Simone Lamsma & Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn

Joseph Haydn probably couldn't imagine that one day you would be able to travel to the moon. Nevertheless, he wrote an opera about life there. Although it was actually just a joke by a lovesick amateur astronomer to marry the daughter of a curious older man. He was fooled anyway, and the opera ends happily, of course. Here you can hear the overture.

Night sky

Linköping Konsert & Kongress

Louis de Geer konsert & kongress

Spring Showcase: Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble – Jason H. Nam, Eric M. Smedley, and Donald McKinney, conductors

Musical Arts Center

Praised for her lustrous tone and deft, dancing energy in a wide range of repertoire, New Zealand-born, US-raised violinist Geneva Lewis has been garnering attention on the international recital circuit since winning both the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Geneva Lewis, violin Evren Ozel, piano

University of California, Berkeley

The words of the immortal bard find new meaning in chamber music by Saariaho and Stravinsky. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel—sister to Felix—proves there were two child prodigies in the family with this delightful Quartet, written when she was just 16 years old.  

Serenading the Tempest

New World Center

It began as a song cycle for two voices and piano accompaniment and became a choral symphonic mammoth work: Arnold Schoenberg's ‘Gurrelieder’ tell the story of the love between Tove and King Waldemar, based on poems by the Danish writer Jens Peter Jacobsen. In the ‘Gurrelieder’, Schönberg, in the tradition of Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, combines all the musical influences of late Romanticism into an almost two-hour monumental work that is a high point of that artistic epoch – and at the same time a turning point: In fact, Schönberg had already taken the step towards atonality during the years of the completion and world premiere of ‘Gurrelieder’.

Gurrelieder

Berliner Philharmonie

Concert Orchestra – Joseph Young, guest conductor; José Alejandro Hernández, violin soloist

One of the most promising singers of her generation, French soprano Axelle Fanyo has been praised by Renée Fleming for her “charismatic, beautiful voice [of] real star quality.” In her PCMS debut program with the “unfailingly eloquent and supportive” pianist Julius Drake (The Telegraph), Fanyo explores the master and apprentice relationship between two pioneering European composers, Arnold Schoenberg and Olivier Messaien, and their American protegés, John Cage and William Bolcom.

Axelle Fanyo, soprano Julius Drake, piano

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The evening begins with a world premiere by Mackinnon-Botti, a contemporary composition that promises to challenge and inspire, featuring the composer himself as beatboxing soloist. This is followed by Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, delivering a dramatic exploration of political power, brought to life through a vivid orchestral and vocal arrangement. The concert concludes with Haydn’s Nelson Mass, a monumental work combining magnificence and emotional depth, showcasing the brilliance of both the orchestra and choir.

Haydn Nelson Mass

University of Oxford

The Minguet Quartet's programs are not just chamber music of the highest caliber, but always also an invitation to the audience to engage in dialogue and participation. The four musicians have already committed themselves to this with their ensemble's name: their namesake is the Spanish writer and music educator Pablo Minguet, who strove in his writings to provide access to the fine arts for all. The fourth chamber concert also features works from different eras in dialogue with each other: the concert begins in a truly classical style with one of the last quartets by Joseph Haydn, the inventor of the string quartet; at the end, we hear Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2, nothing less than a milestone in New Music – the transition to atonality. Tradition and modernity also converge in the works of the Romantics Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, as they are performed in the transcription by Aribert Reimann, one of the most distinguished composers of the second half of the 20th century, who died in 2024. The quartet also enters into dialogue with soprano Sarah Maria Sun, who is also known for her profound program ideas and as a specialist in contemporary music: she has already sung more than 400 world premieres.

Dialogues

CityPalais

Helaine Liebman London, soprano

Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

The timeless art of the recital is perpetuated in the hands of present-day masters of the genre.

Yura Lee & Angus Webster

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

"Way back in the late 1950s I was a member of a large, self-governed chamber group called the Gramercy Chamber Ensemble. The group had strings, winds, brass, piano, and singers, and selected repertory during group meetings. One of the members blurted out that we should do this amazingly original work called Pierrot Lunaire. 'What is Pierrot Lunaire?' was the response of the members. One year and fifty rehearsals later we were mesmerized and excited by this work and desperate to perform it.

Gilbert Kalish at 90

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Having helped inaugurate Tippet Rise’s very first season in 2016, we are honored to welcome back pianist and virtuoso Sir Stephen Hough for the fourth year, presenting an energetic program ranging from Beethoven to Schoenberg, Schubert, Stockhausen, and concluding with his own arrangements of the Sherman brothers’ best-known works from Mary Poppins.

Sir Stephen Hough, piano

Tippet Rise Art Center

Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night is an intoxicating work. Influenced hugely by Brahms and Wagner in both the richness of the writing and the high drama of the narrative it depicts, it is one of the great works of late Romantic chamber music.

Schoenberg & Williams

Sydney Opera House

Soloist concert Kopatchinskaja · Ahonen

Mozarteum Foundation

Piano recital with Inna Faliks

Bargemusic

In 1853, Robert Schumann famously declard Johannes Brahms the composer destined to carry Beethoven's legacy forward. Four decades later, Brahms endorsed the publication of Alexander Zemlinksy's Trio, Op. 3 by Simrock in 1896. Three years later, in 1899, Zemlinksy's student, Arnold Schoenberg, composed his groundbreaking work,Verklärte Nacht, (Transfigured Night) Op. 4. We trace this remarkable arc of creativity through early piano trios of these three pivotal figures in the German musical tradition.

CIOMPI PRESENTS 2025 SUMMER MUSIC SERIES - Eric Pritchard

Duke University

About Life – Special Concert

Museum Ludwig

It takes but a few minutes, a blink of the eye in the history of music. And yet, Arnold Schönberg’s melodrama »A Survivor from Warsaw« is a central work within 20th-century music. The composer Luigi Nono even went so far as to call it »the aesthetic musical manifesto of our period.« The work for narrator, men’s chorus and orchestra conjures up a horrifying scene in the Warsaw Ghetto: The selection and dismissal of prisoners who are sentenced to death. Schönberg reconverted to Judaism in 1933, shortly before emigrating to the USA. Two years after the war had ended, he dealt with the Holocaust on a musical and literary level and formulated a warning addressed to all people of Jewish faith, »never to forget what has been done to us.« In the final chorus, the prisoners – in the face of death – break into sung prayer, the Shema Yisrael. Together with the designated Gürzenich-Kapellmeister Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Gürzenich Orchestra welcomes the renowned French singer and actor Dominique Horwitz who will take on the role of the narrator.

Survive

“Ground-breaking implosions of the musical language of their time” – while being dismissed in their day at the dawn of the 20th century, the compositions of Schoenberg and Webern nowadays are understood as important milestones of music history, which also have a lasting influence on contemporary composers such as Enno Poppe and Beat Furrer.

With this concert under the baton of Katharina Wincor, Klangforum Wien returns to the wellspring of much contemporary music, the Second Viennese School, and will prove once again that it’s able to “reinvigorate the thrill of a concert with contemporary music”, as The New York Times once wrote.

Black holes from the Romantic era

Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ

Mitsuko Uchida is the grande dame of the piano – and one of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s  close artistic companions. Her elegant, gripping and sensitive playing makes her an ideal interpreter of the piano works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. In the final concert of our piano series, we will hear her perform Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E minor, which journeys between contemplative calm and passionate forward momentum, as well as Schubert's last sonata - a work full of intense emotions: sometimes rapturous and reflective, sometimes comforting; and at times, offering a terrifying glimpse into a psychological abyss. Arnold Schönberg and György Kurtág contribute poetic miniatures from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Piano recital Mitsuko Uchida plays Beethoven and Schubert

For the concerts in the In sound series, the Wiener Symphoniker leave their traditional place on the podium and forms up in the cleared-out ground floor of the Great Hall. The audience is invited to mingle with the musicians and sit in the middle of the orchestra, in the middle of the sound.

School concert: "In sound" - Pelleas and Melisande

Wiener Konzerthaus

For the concerts in the "Im Klang" series, the Wiener Symphoniker leave their traditional place on the podium and forms up in the cleared-out ground floor of the Great Hall. The audience is invited to mingle with the musicians and sit in the middle of the orchestra, in the middle of the sound.

Im Klang: Pelleas and Melisande

Join us for an unforgettable evening with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, presented by Stanford Live at the prestigious Bing Concert Hall on Friday, April 25, 2025, at 7:30 PM. This renowned chamber orchestra, founded in 2005, is celebrated as one of the top ensembles of its kind globally. Comprising alumni from the Verbier Festival Orchestra training program, its members hold esteemed positions in some of the world's leading orchestras, including the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonics, as well as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, Tonhalle, and London Symphony Orchestras.

The evening promises to be a showcase of musical brilliance, featuring a program that includes Arnold Schoenberg's "Verklärte Nacht, op. 4," Gustav Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen," and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92. This performance is not only a testament to the orchestra's virtuosity but also an opportunity to experience the depth and breadth of classical music's emotional range.

Generously supported by David Wollenberg and The Wollenberg Foundation, the event ensures an enriching cultural experience. The lobby opens at 6:30 PM, allowing guests to enjoy beverages, light bites, and snacks before the performance begins at 7:30 PM. Tickets start at $52, offering access to a night of exquisite music and unparalleled talent.

Don't miss this opportunity to witness the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra's mastery in a setting as intimate and acoustically perfect as Bing Concert Hall. Secure your tickets now for a musical journey that promises to be both inspiring and memorable.

Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra

Stanford University

The Vocal Ensemble performs music by Poulenc, Schoenberg and Britten under the direction of conducting students.

Freedom and Peace

Majorstuen Church

This recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music. Kanade Motomura is a student of Robin Rice.

Kanade Motomura, Mezzo-Soprano

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

“Crystalline clarity”; “bravura power”; “so mighty as to sweep away any concerns” – critics can sometimes be lost for words when pianist Denis Kozhukhin performs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and there’s a good reason why he’s one of our favourite regular guests. Imagine all that artistry (and all that chemistry) in Rachmaninov’s sweeping Fourth Piano Concerto. That’s the centrepiece of a concert that opens with Matthias Pintscher conducting his own music, plus something new and powerful from his student Ricardo Ferro, before plunging into the deliriously Romantic world of Schoenberg’s Pelléas und Mélisande. This lush orchestral saga of doomed love drove audiences wild in Mahler’s Vienna, and you’re about to hear why.

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.4

Glasgow City Hall

Mezzo-soprano and BBC New Generation Artist Fleur Barron—called “a knockout performer” by London’s The Times—brings “The Power and the Glory” to Weill Recital Hall in her Carnegie Hall debut. Across 150 years of music and poetry, plus several traditions, the program presents a diverse and empathetic reflection on empires and identities, exploring colonial history through works by Montsalvatge, Valcárcel, Messiaen, Lecuona, G. Mahler, Schoenberg, I. Weber, Weill/Brecht, Delage, Kamala Sankaram, Ravel, Zubaida Azezi / Edo Frenkel, and Huang Ruo, plus a US premiere by Kian Ravaei and traditional Chinese selections. Alongside pianist Kunal Lahiry, Barron has performed this powerful program at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and top venues in London, Barcelona, Berlin, and beyond.

Fleur Barron, Mezzo-Soprano Kunal Lahiry, Piano

Carnegie Hall

Giving performances that are “lithe, persuasive” (The New York Times), “eloquent and enthralling” (The Boston Globe), and described as “the most compelling American group to come on the scene” (The New Yorker), the Horszowski Trio has quickly become a vital force in the international chamber music world. Since their debut performance in New York City in 2011, they have toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and India, traversing the extensive oeuvre of traditional piano trio repertoire and introducing audiences to new music that they have commissioned and premiered.

Horszowski Trio and friends

Noe Valley Ministry

Decoda—comprising alums of the adventurous Ensemble Connect and featuring “some of the brightest young classical musicians in the world” (Time Out New York)—is Carnegie Hall’s first-ever affiliate ensemble. With every concert, the spectacularly versatile ensemble showcases its commitment to virtuosic performance, audience and community engagement, and seemingly boundless repertoire. For its 2024–2025 Carnegie Hall concert, Decoda performs works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Gustav and Alma Mahler, Schoenberg, and a one-of-a-kind collaborative suite by four of today’s leading composers, featuring live narration and singers.

Decoda

Considered a “brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary” (The Wall Street Journal), French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career. As a master performer of Beethoven, Aimard recorded Beethoven’s entire catalogue of piano concertos and both the “Hammerklavier” Sonata and “Eroica Variations.” He is widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and has had close collaborations with many leading composers including György Ligeti, whose complete works for piano he has recorded. Praised by The Guardian as “one of the best Messiaen interpreters around,” Aimard has had a close association to the composer himself and with Yvonne Loriod, with whom he studied at the Paris Conservatoire.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

The Royal Conservatory of Music

When Arnold Schoenberg met the woman he would marry, he was taken over by such strong emotion that he committed his impressions to music. The string sexted Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) follows the five stanzas of a poem with the same name, and though he’s now remembered for his work in atonality, this early offering is still as tonal and romantic as they come. After intermission, members of the FWSO will turn to Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet, which finishes with its fiery Hungarian-style rondo.

Brahms and Schoenberg

Sundance Square

Presenting creative arrangements for chamber ensembles by Arnold Schoenberg, Gustav Mahler and Alexander Zemlinsky at the renowned Wigmore Hall in London, Klangforum Wien celebrates these musical pioneers of the city of Vienna, who opposed the prevailing conservatism with their new ideas in music in the early 1900s. Under the baton of its Conductor-in-Residence Vimbayi Kaziboni, the ensemble is joined by mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj.

Wigmore Hall, London

The dynamic duo of violinist Adam Millstein and pianist Dominic Cheli performs concert works by talented émigré, many of whom made Los Angeles their home. The innovative creations of these composers influenced each other and profoundly impacted the trajectory of 20th century music.

The Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices is made possible through the generous support of Marilyn Ziering alongside the many donors who are inspired by this incredibly important work at Colburn School.

Recovered Voices: Adam Millstein, Violin, and Dominic Cheli, Piano

Colburn School

Through the romance of Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night and its hope for the future, and the mesmerising modern world of Philip Glass, music will breathe life into the puppet. And the puppet, the ideal dancer not bound by the same physical laws as us, will fleetingly reveal to you the composer’s intentions, their ambitions and their ideas.

The Law of Gravity

Dundee Rep Theatre

February concert 2025

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Music Academy of the West

City of Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

### Chamber Music in the Hall - Minnesota Orchestra

**Date & Time:** Sunday, January 12, 2025

**Venue:** Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403

**Event Description:**
Spend your Sunday afternoon with the Minnesota Orchestra musicians in a captivating chamber music program. This event is part of the Nordic Soundscapes Festival and features a diverse selection of works by renowned composers such as Francis Poulenc, Arnold Schoenberg, and Carl Nielsen. The program includes:

- **NIELSEN:** Serenata in Vano
- **POULENC:** Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
- **SCHOENBERG:** Verklärte Nacht
- **SUNDSTRÖM:** Chromatic Fantasy for Solo Cello

**Performing Musicians:**
- Susan Billmeyer, piano
- Sam Bergman, viola
- Douglas C. Carlsen, trumpet
- Steven Campbell, tuba
- Kenneth Freed, viola
- Sarah Grimes, violin
- Michael Gast, horn
- Nathan Hughes, oboe
- Charles Lazarus, trumpet
- J. Christopher Marshall, bassoon
- Sophia Mockler, violin
- Kathryn Nettleman, bass
- Marlea Simpson, viola
- Alan Snow, violin
- Ellen Dinwiddie Smith, horn
- Anthony Ross, cello
- Sonia Mantell, cello
- David Pharris, clarinet
- Pitnarry Shin, cello
- Fei Xie, bassoon
- R. Douglas Wright, trombone
- Erik Wheeler, cello

**Accessibility Services:**
- Assistive Listening Devices
- Service Animals
- Wheelchair & Accessible Seating
- Additional services available upon request

**Tickets:**
Tickets for this concert are available now when you purchase a package. Save up to 15% and receive subscriber perks when you buy 3 or more concerts. Individual tickets go on sale July 29.

**Sponsorship:**
The Chamber Music Series is sponsored by Dr. Jennine and John Speier.

Join us for an afternoon of exquisite music and experience the talents of the Minnesota Orchestra musicians in an intimate setting.

Chamber Music in the Hall

Minnesota Orchestra

In the words of Salvatore Accardo, ‘Francesca is one of the most extraordinary talents I have encountered. She possesses a brilliant and infallible technique and a beautiful, warm and appealing tone. Her musicality is full of imagination and at the same time very faithful to the score’. The Italian-American violinist now enjoys a busy international career founded on – as a Gramophone critic once put it – ‘playing that combines tonal purity, verve, and an evident delight in the unexpected’.

Francesca Dego violin; Alessandro Taverna piano

Wigmore Hall

Experience the grandeur of Arnold Schoenberg's "Gurrelieder" under the baton of Zubin Mehta, a maestro with a profound connection to this epic masterpiece. This special performance is part of the "Schoenberg at 150 Festival," celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. Join us at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for two exclusive performances on Friday, December 13, 2024, at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, December 15, 2024, at 2:00 PM.

"Gurrelieder" is Schoenberg's monumental cantata that stands as a testament to the late Romantic era, evoking the lush, emotional landscapes reminiscent of Wagner and Mahler. Its massive scale requires an extraordinary ensemble of five soloists, multiple choirs, a narrator, and a gargantuan orchestra, making it a rare and cherished piece in the classical music repertoire. Zubin Mehta, LA Phil Conductor Emeritus, brings his unparalleled expertise to this work, having conducted its LA Phil premiere and recorded it multiple times. This performance marks a poignant return to one of Mehta's signature pieces, offering audiences a unique opportunity to witness his masterful interpretation of the operatic emotion and architectural grandeur of "Gurrelieder."

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, along with a stellar lineup of soloists including Christine Goerke (soprano Tove), Brandon Jovanovich (tenor Waldemar), Violeta Urmana (mezzo Waldtaube), Gerhard Siegel (tenor Klaus-Narr), and Dietrich Henschel (speaker), will bring this masterpiece to life. The Los Angeles Master Chorale, led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong, will add to the splendor of this performance.

Enhance your experience by arriving early at 6:30 PM to enjoy "Drinks in the Garden." Revel in the lush ambiance of Walt Disney Concert Hall's rooftop garden with a complimentary drink, setting the perfect tone for an unforgettable evening of music.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience the epic and poetic "Gurrelieder" conducted by Zubin Mehta, a true highlight of the "Schoenberg at 150 Festival." Reserve your tickets now for a musical journey that promises to be both monumental and deeply moving.

Zubin Mehta Conducts Gurrelieder

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Piano Spheres’ founding pianist Susan Svrček was known for her elegant and insightful performances. Her untimely passing in 2022 foreshadowed the loss of her husband of 32 years, influential composer Frederick Lesemann who wrote much of his later music for her and whose music she championed. This concert is a rare opportunity to hear all of Piano Spheres’ Core and Emeritus Artists on the same stage at the same time! They will perform works by Charles Ives, Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage often performed by Svrček, as well as music by Lesemann written for her. This concert is a love letter from Susan and Rick’s colleagues, students and friends, three of whom (composers Donald Crockett, Thomas Flaherty and Bill Alves) have written pieces for this concert as part of the Piano Spheres ‘30 for 30’ commissioning program.

for Susan and Rick

One California Plaza

Piano Spheres’ founding pianist Susan Svrček was known for her elegant and insightful performances. Her untimely passing in 2022 foreshadowed the loss of her husband of 32 years, influential composer Frederick Lesemann who wrote much of his later music for her and whose music she championed. This concert is a rare opportunity to hear all of Piano Spheres’ Core and Emeritus Artists on the same stage at the same time! They will perform works by Charles Ives, Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage often performed by Svrček, as well as music by Lesemann written for her. This concert is a love letter from Susan and Rick’s colleagues, students and friends, three of whom (composers Donald Crocket, Thomas Flaherty, and Bill Alves) have written pieces for this concert as part of the Piano Spheres ‘30 for 30’ commissioning program.

Piano Spheres Presents: For Susan and Rick

Separated by a few short years and the turn of a century, this concert features two utterly different string quartets from two modernist giants who typify the staggering range of fin de siècle classical music.

Schoenberg’s visionary second quartet sees Ensemble 360 joined by superstar soprano Claire Booth for a surprisingly accessible and personal work that stretches from the intimate to the interstellar. Debussy’s sensual and impressionistic quartet shimmers with life and light between opening storms and a grand conclusion.

Contrasts

Sheffield Theatres

Two versatile artists come together for a cabaret programme, presenting the lighter side of song from various traditions.

Claire Booth soprano; Jâms Coleman piano

Three composers cry out in the void. Confronted by unimaginable horror, Schoenberg rediscovered his Jewish roots, and created a musical drama of savage, defiant courage, in tribute to the Holocaust victims. In Soviet Russia, the authorities expected Shostakovich to write a propaganda symphony: but what they got was a searing denunciation of man’s inhumanity to man – more potent, and more urgent than ever in 2024. As part of our exploration of memory, Andrey Boreyko conducts three testaments from a dark century – with the incomparable Gidon Kremer as soloist in the Violin Concerto by Mieczysław Weinberg: composer, survivor and Shostakovich’s most devoted friend.

A Dark Century

Royal Festival Hall

When the 22-year-old Mozart was working on his second flute concerto, the later composer of the "Magic Flute" was not particularly fond of the instrument: "Then I'll be stuffed" (i.e. reluctant), he told his father, "if I have to write for an instrument that I don't like." And so he quickly managed to get his client, Ferdinand Dejean, to arrange his oboe concerto - a sleight of hand that of course does not detract from Mozart's cheerful and energetic music.

3rd  Symphony Concert

Music and Congress Hall

New for the 2024-25 season, select events are available as Pay-What-You-Wish ticketing, allowing you to choose the ticket price that's right for you. When purchasing tickets online, you'll see a $1 base price during checkout and you'll have the opportunity to enter your preferred ticket price as a donation. Or visit the Box Office (155 W 65th St) to purchase in person, Tuesday-Friday, 11am-5pm.

The New Series | Schoenberg and Beyond

The Juilliard School

Ithaca Commons

“Spielfreude,” the joy of playing, describes the sheer physical and emotive pleasure of performing at the keyboard. Mark Robson’s recital offers a program that largely takes its cue from this idea, with pieces from a range composers including Ligeti, Glass, Cowell, Messiaen, Aldo Clementi and Ginastera, with premieres by Peter Knell, Hannah Rice and Daniel Rothman. Also featured will be Schoenberg’s Zwei Klavierstücke, Op. 33 in honor of the composer’s 150th birth anniversary.

Mark Robson: Spielfreude

Soprano singer Claire Booth, pianist Alasdair Beatson and musicians from Royal Northern Sinfonia together under the direction of Maria Wloszczowska.

Pierrot in the Moonlight

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Camerata Pacifica artists are representative of the world’s finest, bringing to our stage their highly individual personalities for dynamic performances of music that span the huge, eclectic range of the chamber music repertoire.

Camerata Pacifica Presents: Fukushima, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg

october concerts 2024

We open our 2024/25 season with a portrait of one of the most misunderstood pioneers of the early 20th-century avant-garde. Arnold Schoenberg's early works such as his Chamber Symphony, written in 1906, expanded the lush harmonies of late Romanticism to the extent that it scandalised audiences and incited them to riot at the strange physicality of the sounds they were hearing.

Schoenberg: Reshaping Tradition

Southbank Centre

Gil Shaham — whose playing has been called “haunting and utterly beautiful” (The Strad) — is the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Schoenberg’s symphonic poem Pelleas and Melisande is in the Romantic style, predating the composer’s atonal innovations. Composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher opens the program with the US Premiere of his own Neharot, a tribute to those who suffered in the pandemic. 

Mendelssohn, Schoenberg & Matthias Pintscher

David Geffen Hall

With a career spanning over four decades, Emanuel Ax has received numerous accolades, including multiple Grammy Awards and international recognition for his exceptional interpretations of classical masterpieces. “Ax is an extremely satisfying pianist; he is at home in a wide variety of music and his pianism is always thoughtful, lyrical, lustrous.” (The Washington Post)


Emanuel Ax, piano

Over the last few years the young baritone has made significant impressions on stages and concert platforms everywhere he has sung. For The Guardian, he is an ‘outstanding artist, incredibly charismatic on stage, his voice wonderfully fluid and expressive’, while Gramophone found his contributions to a Duparc disc ‘superbly voiced and unsparingly vivid’.

Huw Montague Rendall baritone; Hélio Vida piano

Of a recent recording by the young Turkish pianist combining music by Schubert with Schoenberg’s Op. 11, Gramophone wrote, ‘I am happy to report that it more than fulfils the highest expectations ... This very distinguished recording should not be missed by anyone interested in fine piano-playing and heartfelt poetic utterance.’

Can Çakmur piano

Birtwistle’s 1994 curtain-raiser Fanfare for Glyndebourne is followed by Schoenberg’s melding of his own harmonic practice with the American wind band tradition. The jazz-inflected idiom of HK Gruber’s 3 MOB Pieces is also heard in Leonard Bernstein’s spectacular Prelude, Fugue and Riffs.

Prelude, Fugue And Riffs

Royal Academy of Music

A performance of Pierrot Lunaire is always a special event, all the more so when played by young people. Students from the UK’s oldest music school are joined by two international, prize-winning singers in a unique project to mark Schoenberg’s 150th anniversary. Iain Farrington’s ingenious arrangement of Mahler’s youthful song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for chamber orchestra, completes the programme.

Purcell School Chamber Soloists

The rising star tenor won first prize at the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition and was shortlisted in the Young Singer category at the 2023 International Opera Awards.

Sunday Afternoon Song

### Event Description: Lunar Dreams - Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

**Event Title:** Lunar Dreams

**Date and Time:** Sunday, 15th September 2024, 4:30 PM (Pre-concert talk at 3:30 PM)

**Venue:** CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham, B1 2LF

**Ticket Prices:**
- General: £15
- Student: £7.50
- Under 12s: FREE with a paying adult

**Event Overview:**
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg's birth on September 13, 1874, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) presents "Lunar Dreams," a concert dedicated to his legacy and the rich musical heritage he left behind. Schoenberg, a pioneer of modernism and the founder of the twelve-tone composition method, revolutionized music and continues to inspire contemporary composers.

**Program:**
- **Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951):** *Pierrot Lunaire*, Op. 21 (1912) - 35 minutes
- **Param Vir (b. 1952):** *A Spread of Dreams* (2009) - 11 minutes
- **Param Vir:** *Twelve Tones for Flute and Piano* (World Premiere, 1970) - 4 minutes
- **Bethan Morgan Williams (b. 1992):** *Voices Go With You* (2021) - 11 minutes
- **Julian Anderson (b. 1967):** *Mitternachtslied* (2020, 2023) - 6 minutes

**Performers:**
- **Yeree Suh:** Soprano
- **Tom Kemp:** Conductor

**Event Highlights:**
- A tribute to Arnold Schoenberg, featuring his most celebrated work, *Pierrot Lunaire*.
- Performances of new works inspired by Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.
- An exploration of themes such as night, transitions, and freedom in sound.

**Additional Information:**
- The event will start with a pre-concert talk at 3:30 PM, providing insights into the evening's program and the significance of Schoenberg's contributions to modern music.
- The concert will be an ethereal experience, celebrating radical thought and the dreamlike qualities of Schoenberg's music.

**Booking Information:**
Tickets can be purchased online. Please ensure to book early as seats are limited.

**Contact:**
For more information, please contact the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group at 0121 616 2616.

Join us for an evening of celestial music and celebrate the enduring legacy of Arnold Schoenberg with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Lunar Dreams

CBSO Centre

One fast-rising star and one firmly established. The inimitable Patricia Kopatchinskaja returns to the festival for this concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the latest conducting sensation to have emerged from Finland, Tarmo Peltokoski.

Prom 67: BBC Symphony Orchestra play Shostakovich 5

Royal Albert Hall

Prepare to be mesmerised as nine world-class artists perform together for one night only in this special event in aid of the HarrisonParrott Foundation and in celebration of Arnold Schoenberg’s 150th birthday. This spellbinding evening promises an inspired journey through masterpieces of classical repertoire. This is sure to be an unforgettable and captivating musical experience.

The HarrisonParrott Foundation: A prelude to Arnold Schoenberg’s 150th birthday

A returning favourite at the International Festival, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has an undeniable ‘knack for illuminating connections among the works he plays’ (The New York Times). His remarkable power and clarity bring compelling insights to works from the earliest keyboard music to some of today’s most complex piano creations.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard

The Queen's Hall

Quite simply one of the world’s greatest pianists, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has been a favourite at the International Festival for many years. With his remarkable power and clarity, he brings compelling insights to works from the earliest keyboard music to some of today’s most complex piano creations.

Guided by conductor Elim Chan, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra meets two dazzling soloists.

Arnold Schoenberg

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 22, 2026

Hugo Ticciati violin; Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano · Wigmore Hall

Jul 16, 2026

3rd Festival Chamber Concert: Polyphonic with Vocals · Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Aug 5, 2026

Lovers in the Night · Minnesota Orchestra

Nov 2, 2026

Richard Goode piano · Wigmore Hall

Jan 26, 2027

Stephen Hough in Recital · The Cleveland Orchestra

Past events

Jun 19, 2026

The Bavarian State Opera in Blaibach – Polyphonic · Konzerthaus Blaibach

Jun 14, 2026

Fin de siècle · Bühnen Bern

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