One of the most distinctive artists and polymaths of his generation, Sir Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of a composer and writer. The first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, Hough is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, the Royal Philharmonic Instrumentalist Award, and first prize at the Naumburg Competition. In 2014, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Hough has performed with most of the major European, Asian, and American orchestras and regularly plays recitals in major halls, concert series, and festivals around the world. His catalogue of over sixty albums has garnered prizes such as the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone awards, including the “Gold Disc” Award, which named his complete Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past thirty years. As a composer, Hough has written commissions for institutions such as the Cliburn, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Wigmore Hall. Hough holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at Manchester’s Royal Northern College and is a faculty member at the Juilliard School.

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Stephen Hough, piano

Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

In 1995, Stockhausen was asked to listen to the music of Aphex Twin, commenting that Aphex should ‘immediately stop with all these post-African repetitions’. Aphex Twin responded that Stockhausen might want to ‘stop making abstract, random patterns you can’t dance to’.

GBSR Duo: Stockhausen vs Aphex Twin

Southbank Centre

Iridescence is an optical phenomenon in which the color of a surface changes depending on the viewing angle. Our concert program also features iridescence, ranging from chamber concerts to chamber plays: In Karlheinz Stockhausen's "The Little Harlequin" for solo clarinet from 1975, the soloist 'embodies' the eponymous Harlequin not only through music but also through dance movements. He also accompanies himself rhythmically by stamping his feet.

1st Chamber Concert

Theater Aachen

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

After the semi-finals of the second edition of the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam in June 2024, the six designated winners Luis Castillo-Briceño, Yukuang Jin, Jakub Przybycień, Rodrigo Sámano Albarrán, Miguel Sepúlveda and Sam Weller undergo a one-year mentoring programme that will culminate in the final rounds between 1 and 13 June, 2025 in De Doelen.

During these days, the finalists will demonstrate their skills in five different rounds and conduct works from a wide range of genres: from classical to contemporary music and operas to large symphonic works. On June 4, 2025, they will be at the helm of Klangforum Wien conducting works by Beat Furrer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Enno Poppe, and Mathilde Wantenaar

ICCR Rotterdam: Final rounds 2025

De Doelen

Karlheinz Stockhausen established his world fame as a futuristic musician and political utopian with visionary electronic compositions. Wolfgang Rihm preferred to develop his own sound language with classical instruments, which made him one of the most important voices in contemporary music. Two concerts are dedicated to their teacher-student relationship.

Stations: Rihm & Stockhausen

resonanzraum

Stations: Stockhausen & Rihm

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Karlheinz Stockhausen – and Wolfgang Rihm? Was there something? You bet. In the early summer of 1972, Rihm finished school and had a state examination in composition and music theory in his pocket. Rihm was just twenty and his goal was clear: to study composition. And only Stockhausen in Cologne was an option. He replies politely, invites him, but immediately makes his reservations clear in writing. It had to be »clear that you have no other plans for at least two years. Otherwise you’d better go somewhere else or nowhere at all

Stockhausen’s last electronic piece, plus a new adventure from experimental composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki: Bab-Khaneh: Gatehouse of Memory. A wondrous finale to a day of sonic innovation.

Total Immersion: Symphonic Electronics - Shiva Feshareki and Stockhausen

Barbican Centre

All three composers represented here figure in the pianist’s sizable discography, which includes Debussy’s complete piano music – much of it heard during this Wigmore series. As Gramophone claimed of a release including the Etudes, his ‘flexible virtuosity and innate grasp of Debussy's style and sound world yield ravishing, freshly minted interpretations … that proudly rank with (and sometimes surpass) the catalogue's reference versions’.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

Wigmore Hall

For Debussy and Schumann, childhood was a time of magical stories and wonders from beyond the imagination. It’s a wonderful starting point for this recital from one of France’s most dazzling musical imaginations. Everything that Jean-Efflam Bavouzet touches simply comes alive, and whether it’s Debussy’s glittering musical pictures or the psychedelic visions of Stockhausen, this is a concert to dream to.

Steinway International Piano Series: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Bute Park

The Oberlin Horn Ensemble, led by David Byrd-Marrow, will present a concert in Warner Concert Hall.

Concert: Oberlin Horn Ensemble

Oberlin College

In the context of Mittwoch aus Licht, Titus Engel, for his first concert as conductor-in-residence, connects the musical worlds of Stockhausen and Wagner. Both composers not only shaped the music of their time, but they also polarised opinion, both aesthetically and socially. A mystical aura still surrounds both; religion of art and classical heroic epic are the central elements of their two late works. A few days before the premiere of Mittwoch, the second act of Donnerstag offers insights into another day of the week-long opera cycle. As a purely instrumental section, Michael’s journey around the world traces a hero’s path culminating in his ascension to Heaven. The parallels to Parsifal’s journey, profoundly influenced by Wagner’s affinity for religious spirituality, are evident. John Cage's piece 4′33″ serves as a link and prelude to the quasi-sacred atmosphere, having revolutionised listening through the establishment of the musical pause as a sonic space. The concert marks the opening of the thematic focus on Stockhausen and Cage, co-curated by Titus Engel.

Symphony Concert: Light on Parsifal

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Only a few days before the premiere of the opera Mittwoch aus Licht, Titus Engel devotes himself in his first concert as conductor in residence with the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin to a scene from another day of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s week-long opera cycle – the second act of Donnerstag aus Licht. The purely instrumental section Michaels Reise um die Erde depicts the travels of a hero culminating in an ascension to heaven. There are clear parallels here to the journey of Parsifal which was profoundly characterised by Richard Wagner’s affinity with religious spirituality, and the evening concludes with extracts from this work. John Cage’s 4′33″, a composition that reoriented and challenged listening habits through the discovery of musical rests as sonic space, acts as a connecting element between these works, attuning the ear to a quasi-sacred atmosphere.

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Kleiner Saal

With the beginning of the new artistic directorship of Aviel Cahn, the Deutsche Oper Berlin is undertaking a project which pushes boundaries: Karlheinz Stockhausens Mittwoch aus Licht can be experienced for the first time as a staged opera production in German-speaking countries and will be transformed into an immersive ritual by the multiple award-winning artistic duo Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg. It will be conducted by the new principal guest conductor and passionate Stockhausen specialist Maxime Pascal. The performance even departs from the theatre location for the spectacular helicopter string quartet in which the four string players each perform in different helicopters circling high above the audience – a unique live event for the entire city which will be documented on film and become part of the performance.

On the occasion of the new directorship, Deutsche Oper Berlin is venturing to show a project that crashes through boundaries and opens up new spaces: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht will be shown as a scenic opera production in the German-speaking world for the first time. Stockhausen, visionary of sound, crafted nothing less than a cosmic theatrum mundi about man and woman, good and evil, birth and death with his monumental cycle LICHT. Die sieben Tage der Woche. While other portions of the cycle centre around the struggle between competing forces, the polarity of which reshapes our lives every day, Mittwoch celebrates the utopia of love and the spiritual connection in the spirit of music, as well as the belief that community and solidarity are possible. Stockhausen was uncompromising in his search for a new type of music; he is considered one of the most innovative and yet most controversial composers of the 20th century. A pioneer of electronic music, he also inspired pop music across all genres, including Kraftwerk and Björk. The spectacular centrepiece of Mittwoch aus Licht is the helicopter string quartet, in which Stockhausen expands the musical space beyond the theatre itself: The members of a string quartet sit in four helicopters circling high above the audience. Sounds of strings meld with the helicopter blades, floating down to the audience from above. For our production, the quartet will be performed live as a one-of-a-kind event for the whole city, with film recordings of the quartet becoming part of the production. Award-winning duo Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg, who caused a sensation with Einstein on the Beach at Theater Basel and Parsifal at Opera Antwerpen, will transform their first opera production in Berlin into an immersive ritual. Maxime Pascal, Principal Guest Conductor under the new directorship, is an expert and passionate connoisseur of Stockhausen and has performed every piece of the LICHT cycle except for Mittwoch.

Wednesday from Light

Starting and finishing at Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park, this guided bicycle concert invites audiences to travel together through the city, stopping at a series of green spaces for live performances of contemporary music. Participants will visit locations across Birmingham by bike, where short, pop-up concerts unfold in the open air. Please note you will need your own bike to take part in this ride.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 8, 2026

Symphony Concert: Light on Parsifal · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Sep 8, 2026

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin · Berliner Philharmoniker

Sep 19, 2026

Deutsche Oper Berlin · Berliner Philharmoniker

19 - 27 Sep, 2026

Wednesday from Light · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Sep 20, 2026

Cycle the Score · Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Past events

Feb 2, 2026

Stephen Hough, piano · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Jan 31, 2026

GBSR Duo: Stockhausen vs Aphex Twin · Southbank Centre

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