Singer

A musical sensation: the highly expressive orchestral music of Yvonne Loriod is given a new lease of life. The brilliant pianist and legendary piano professor, born in Paris in 1924, was primarily known during her lifetime as a performer of her husband Olivier Messiaen’s music. The WDR Sinfonieorchester and Kent Nagano are presenting one of her numerous compositions for orchestra for the very first time: La Sainte Face, a fifteen-movement musical depiction of the “Saint’s Face” for soprano and orchestra. The vocal part of this long-forgotten religiously influenced music will be undertaken by Sarah Aristidou. A rare opportunity to experience one of the most fascinating works of musical and religious expression of the 20th century.

WDR Sinfonieorchester I

Berliner Philharmoniker

EPSG:4326

Musik der Zeit - Das heilige Antlitz | Musikfest Berlin

Berliner Philharmonie

The Musikfest Berlin opens with Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti and at the same time celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele. Ligeti’s only opera is a profoundly-black parable of war and the end of the world, but ultimately humour gains the upper hand and indirectly also helps in overcoming the fear of death. It is therefore no surprise that this satire is one of the most frequently performed works of contemporary music theatre. Nicholas Collon leads the way through Ligeti’s grotesque doomsday scenario as the chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, assisted by the Helsinki Chamber Choir and an international ensemble of soloists. Thanks to the Helsinki Festival, Ligeti’s “anti-anti-opera”, as the composer himself called it, will be heard for the first time in Finland just a few days previously.

Opening Ceremony Musikfest Berlin 2026 75 Years Berliner Festspiele

Spiritual Opening – Miserere

Kollegienkirche, Salzburg

Concert I

DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

Open Young Ears! - Unsuk Chin

Deutsche Ensemble Akademie e.V.

Pasculli was known as the “Paganini of the oboe”, and his Donizetti-inspired concerto pushes its soloist to the extremes. François Leleux, renowned for his flair and musicianship, is the work’s perfect advocate.

Sunset: Mozart, Respighi, Pasculli, Schubert

Smith Square Hall

We open with his intimate Cello Sonata No.2, performed by Paul Watkins and Alessio Bax. To close, violinist Alena Baeva joins them for his Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and piano, a work of dynamic interplay composed during one of his great creative outpourings.

Mysteries: Beethoven and Ligeti

Written on a walking holiday in the countryside, its unstoppable stream of melody immediately evokes freedom, natural beauty and high spirits.

Voyagers: Schubert, Ravel, Hankash, Weill

He wants to proclaim the imminent destruction of the world and frivolous humanity. Seduced and overwhelmed by the unknown desires of life, only Nekrotzar himself dies in the end. Everyone else comes to the moral that their temporary survival should be used to maintain the way of life they have led until then.

Le Grand Macabre

Vienna State Opera

Olga Neuwirth is one of the outstanding composers of our time. Together with Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, she is writing a new piece of music theater. They send two «vampires» – really avatars of themselves – on a journey around the world. They observe the decline of humanity while a tyrannical king and a self-conjuring sea monster fight for power.

Monster's Paradise

Zurich Opera House

Musical theater on the current state of affairs: As avatars of themselves, the exceptional artists Olga Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek send two "vampires" on a journey around the world and observe the decline of humanity. But what kind of world is this, one that can only be saved by a monster named Gorgonzilla? Tobias Kratzer stages this brand-new political grotesque as a contemporary Grand Guignol.

Monster’s Paradise

Hamburg State Opera

Contributing to the homage à Pierre Boulez, the Klangforum Wien Orchestra commemorates the 100th birthday of the composer and conductor by performing works by Maurice Ravel, Pierre Boulez and Edgard Varèse. Featuring soprano Sarah Aristidou, the concert at the Haus für Mozart is lead by Sylvain Cambreling.

Salzburger Festspiele – Guest Orchestras/À Pierre: Klangforum Wien Orchestra

Haus für Mozart, Salzburg

Klangforum Wien Orchestra · Cambreling

House for Mozart

The Cleveland Orchestra is thrilled to announce its captivating performance, "Vox Humana," set to take place on May 23-24, 2025, at the prestigious Mandel Concert Hall within the Severance Music Center. Under the baton of the renowned conductor Franz Welser-Möst, this event promises to be an unforgettable experience for classical music enthusiasts.

The performance will feature a diverse and emotionally rich program, including Poulenc's "La voix humaine," J.S. Bach's "Concerto from Komm, Jesu, komm" and "Aria from Komm, Jesu, komm," Ustvolskaya's "Symphony No. 5, Amen," and R. Strauss's "Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten." The Cleveland Orchestra will be joined by the talented soprano Sarah Aristidou, narrator Tony Sias, and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, ensuring a night of exquisite musical artistry.

This event is part of the 2025 Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival, highlighting the orchestra's commitment to delivering performances of the highest caliber. Tickets are available for subscription, offering attendees the chance to secure their seats for this much-anticipated event.

The Severance Music Center, known for its commitment to accessibility and inclusivity, offers a range of services to ensure all attendees can enjoy the performance comfortably. These include wheelchair access and seating, companion wheelchair seating, assistance for the deaf or hard of hearing, assistance for the blind or persons with low vision, and service animal accommodations. Pre-paid parking passes for the adjacent Case Western Reserve University's CWRU Lot 29 Campus Center Garage are also available for select performances.

Don't miss the opportunity to experience the profound beauty and emotional depth of "Vox Humana" performed by The Cleveland Orchestra. Secure your tickets now for an evening of unforgettable musical excellence.

Vox Humana

Severance Music Center

Opera by Beat Furrer (*1954) after the novel «Eisejuaz» by Sara Gallardo
Libretto by Thomas Stangl
Commissioned by the Opernhaus Zürich, World Premiere

Das grosse Feuer

Opernhaus Zürich

Debussy and Bartók through the prism of Pierre Boulez: the centenary of the conductor and composer is a pretext for exploring two totems of 20th-century music, to which the French master brought his proverbial precision and a kind of laser-like illumination that was his trademark. A style that is not foreign to the style of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. The highlight: Le Soleil des eaux , set to poems by René Char, underlines the Debussyist lineage of the creator Boulez.

The Sun of the Waters / J.-E. Bavouzet

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

“And I turned around.” As the consequence of a single fatal movement, Orpheus loses everything and is thrown back on what had seemingly already been overcome: The sense of forlornness between Him and Her, their mutual unavailability, and the desperate desire which will never be fulfilled. With Begehren, Beat Furrer has created one of the most significant works of contemporary music theatre, which Klangforum Wien presents in a concert version at the core of the ensemble’s “FURRER 70” project. The performance is part of festival Wien Modern 2024.

Singen, Sehnen

Wiener Konzerthaus

Beat Furrer's Begehren is considered one of the most significant works of contemporary music theater of our time. The conductor and composer reworks the Orpheus myth, condensing the ancient sources of Ovid and Virgil with texts by Cesare Pavese, Günter Eich and Hermann Broch, into ten haunting soundscapes. Starting from the tragic moment, when Orpheus looks back at his beloved Eurydice, Furrer uses a new musico-dramatic narrative style to explore the relationship drama of two archetypal figures: "Him" and "Her", their mutual unavailability, and the desperate desire which will never be fulfilled.

Dortmund Zeitinsel 2024 - Beat Furrer: Begehren

Dortmund Concert 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

Wigmore Hall

With Begehren, Beat Furrer has created one of the most significant works of contemporary music theatre. The founder and long-time companion of Klangforum Wien, who is celebrating his 70th birthday this year, reworks the Orpheus myth, condensing the ancient sources of Ovid and Virgil with texts by Cesare Pavese, Günter Eich and Hermann Broch into ten haunting soundscapes. Starting from the single fatal movement, when Orpheus looks back at his beloved Eurydice, Furrer explores the relationship drama of two archetypal figures by means of a new musico-dramatic narrative style: "Him" and "Her", their mutual unavailability, and the desperate desire which will never be fulfilled. Premiered twenty years ago at the opening celebrations of Graz as European Capital of Culture, Begehren has since been performed widely. Klangforum Wien is presenting the work at the core of its "Furrer 70" project and is now performing it for the first time in Switzerland under the direction of Beat Furrer himself.

Lucerne Festival – Begehren

Lucerne Theater, Lucerne

Salzburger Festspiele – Ouverture Spirituelle · Et exspecto – Begehren

Opera with a text by Händl Klaus (definitive version, 2015-2018, premiered in 2019)

Part of the performance takes place in complete darkness.
Concert performance.

Salzburger Festspiele – Ouverture Spirituelle · Et exspecto – Koma

Mozarteum Foundation

Music from France and Great Britain by three important composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. In his piano suite "Le Tombeau de Couperin" (later scored for a smaller orchestra), composed between 1914 and 1917, Maurice Ravel created a musical memorial to six friends who died in the First World War. Olivier Messiaen's "Oiseux exotiques", a chamber orchestra composition from the mid-1950s, was not based on the human world but on birdsong. George Benjamin's "Into the Little Hill" from 2006 is also enriched with sound colours of all kinds, transporting the listener to a fairytale world. II

Konzert im Pierre Boulez Saal II

Pierre Boulez Saal

A rich man has commissioned a young composer to write an opera for a celebration: Ariadne auf Naxos. But because this tragic opera about Ariadne, abandoned by her lover Theseus, isn't entertaining enough for him, he invites a troupe of comedians to perform their farces concurrently with the tragedy. This is an imposition for the composer, but also an opportunity: the grief of the abandoned Ariadne clashes with the joie de vivre of the comedienne Zerbinetta. In his production of the work, which premiered in 1916, David Hermann brings the world of Greek tragedy into contact with the lightness of French Rococo. "Ariadne auf Naxos" is an opera about opera, about fidelity and change, and about the transformative power of love.

Soprano

Sarah Aristidou

Events

Past events

Sep 5, 2026

WDR Sinfonieorchester I · Berliner Philharmoniker

Sep 5, 2026

Musik der Zeit - Das heilige Antlitz | Musikfest Berlin · WDR Sinfonieorchester

Future and recently performed repertoire

Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss

Semperoper Dresden

Singer in Trois poèmes de Mallarmé by Ravel

Salzburger Festspiele

Singer in Pli selon pli by Boulez

Salzburger Festspiele

Chef der Gepopo / Venus in Le Grand Macabre by Ligeti

Wiener Staatsoper

Venus and Chief of Gepopo in Le Grand Macabre by Ligeti

Berliner Philharmoniker

Singer in Concerto sopra motivi dell'opera 'La favorita' di Donizetti by Pasculli

Sinfonia Smith Square

Tripe in Monster’s Paradise by Neuwirth

Staatsoper Hamburg

Vampi in Monster's Paradise by Neuwirth

Opernhaus Zürich

Singer in Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé by Ravel

Klangforum Wien

Singer in Éclat/Multiples by Boulez

Klangforum Wien

Singer in Begehren by Furrer

Klangforum Wien

Michaela in Koma by Haas

Klangforum Wien

Singer in Akrostichon-Wortspiel by Chin

Ensemble Modern

Singer in Passion by Dusapin

Ensemble Modern

Singer in La Sainte Face by Loriod

Berliner Philharmoniker

About

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