Oliver Knussen loved to explore utopian worlds. In his short piece for winds Choral, shifting “choirs” create a variety of spatial effects. The physicality of sound also shapes Clara Iannotta’s The purple fuchsia bled upon the ground. The title is borrowed from an Irish poem, whose vivid language inspired the Italian composer to create an experimental instrumentation that includes electric guitar, MIDI piano, and accordion. The Concerto for Orchestra by George Benjamin, who is also the conductor of this musica viva concert, was written in memory of Knussen: it is a turbulent work that seeks to evoke Knussen’s energy, humour, and spirit. The concert concludes with Harrison Birtwistle’s Deep Time: a breathtakingly colourful piece, alternating between the melancholy character of the English horn and cataclysmically pulsating moments.

EPSG:4326

George Benjamin & Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Munich Residence

Harrison Birtwistle’s opera ain’t for the fainthearted. A man throws a baby in the fire, stabs his wife Judy, searching for lovely Polly, who he wants to marry, carrying out further murders before he finally finds her. Benjamin Britten proposed the young composer Birtwistle for an opera commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival, because »he’s got more to say than his contemporaries«.

Punch and Judy

Bockenheimer Depot

Music sometimes contains composers' secrets that are not meant for everyone to hear. Shostakovich performs his first cello concerto with his D-Es-CH theme formed from his initials, but in the finale, Stalin begins to taunt him with his favorite tune. Schubert left his B minor symphony unfinished, even though he tried for a long time to come up with a sequel to it. Recent research reveals that the work may have been intentionally "Unfinished". The text written by Schubert around the same time tells of a difficult family crisis, the painful memories of which are reflected in two movements of the symphony. In the Cortége by Sibelius Prize-winning Sir Harrison Birtwistle, the musicians perform a mysterious ritual in front of the audience.

Sleep or Trauma

Espoo Cultural Centre

Harrison Birtwistle’s monumental Earth Dances returns to the Proms for the first time this century. This contemporary orchestral masterpiece boasts tectonic shifts that surge and fissure with inexorable, elemental force. Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra pair it with the mould-breaking orchestral pinnacle of another age. Grander than anything that came before, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the ‘Eroica’, ushers in Romanticism, revolutionising both the form itself and expectations of what a symphony can – and should – be.

Beethoven and Birtwistle

Royal Albert Hall

With two explosive chords, Beethoven’s Eroica symphony launched a new era for music and created a world of limitless sonic potential. It’s revolutionary in every sense, and for our Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth – a composer himself – it’s the natural culmination of a concert filled with sounds that stretch the bounds of possibility. The poetry of Georg Trakl finds a wordless voice in Donghoon Shin’s wild and wonderful new cello concerto (and the young South Korean cellist Jaemin Han has been described as “a staggering talent”). The late Harrison Birtwistle, meanwhile, dives deep into nocturnal melancholy, and finds both terror and beauty: a potent tribute, in what would have been Birtwistle’s 90th birthday year.

Beethoven's 'Eroica’ Symphony

Glasgow City Hall

### Event Description: Secret Kiss Birmingham

**Event Title:** Secret Kiss Birmingham

**Date and Time:** Wednesday, 27 November 2024, 7:30 PM (Pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM)

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

**Ticket Prices:**
- General: £15.00
- Student: £7.50
- Under 12s: FREE with a paying adult

**Event Overview:**
Join the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) for an ethereal performance at the CBSO Centre. The concert, titled "Secret Kiss," explores the theme of intimate communication through music, featuring sensitive stories of connection and self-awareness.

**Program Highlights:**
- **Rebecca Saunders:** *Stirrings* (2001, 16')
- **Julian Anderson:** *Mitternachtslied* (2020, 2023, 6')
- **Peter Eötvös:** *Secret Kiss* (2018/9, 15') - BCMG SI Commission (World première of the English language version)
- **Lisa Illean:** *Cantor* (2017, 9')
- **Harrison Birtwistle:** *The Woman and the Hare* (1999, 15')
- **Harrison Birtwistle:** *.when falling asleep* (2022, 7')

**Featured Artists:**
- **Alice Rossi:** Soprano
- **Meg Kubota:** Reciter
- **Geoffrey Paterson:** Conductor

**About the Main Piece:**
"Secret Kiss" is one of Peter Eötvös' final ensemble works, inspired by Alessandro Baricco's novel *Silk*. The piece transports the audience back to the 19th century, where a young Frenchman travels to Japan to learn about silk production. During his visit, he encounters a young girl, and a tender yet binding connection emerges from a single glance.

**Additional Information:**
- **Co-Commissioners:** Gageego Ensemble Gothenburg, Casa da Música Porto, Plural Ensemble Madrid, Okamura & Company, Inc., Musikfabrik Cologne, MÜPA Budapest, Wigmore Hall, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group as part of BCMG’s Sound Investment Scheme.
- **Composer Background:** Peter Eötvös (1944 - 2024) was a highly influential figure in the contemporary music scene, known for his operas, instrumental solo concertos, and chamber music pieces.

**Booking Information:**
Tickets are available for purchase online. For more details and to book your place, visit the BCMG website.

**Contact:**
For further inquiries, contact BCMG at 0121 616 2616.

**Add to Calendar:**
Ensure you don't miss this captivating performance by adding the event to your calendar.

Join us for an evening of intimate and evocative music that promises to be a memorable experience.

Secret Kiss

Wigmore Hall

One of the UK’s leading contemporary ensembles offers a new Wigmore Hall co-commission; the piece by Hungarian composer/conductor Peter Eötvös is a melodrama for narrator and five instruments setting a text adapted by Mari Mezei from Alessandro Baricco’s novel Silk. There’s also the first London performance of a short work by Birtwistle.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; Geoffrey Paterson conductor; Alice Rossi soprano; Meg Kubota reciter

Asia tour with Sir Simon Rattle 3

Hyogo Performing Arts Center

Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies were two of the most prominent avant-garde musical voices in post-war Britain.

Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot

Royal Academy of Music

Sir Simon Rattle 3

Gasteig HP8

The Cumnock Tryst" class="css-u850" data-mark-multiple="true">The Cumnock Tryst is delighted to present the official launch of our new chamber group The Cumnock Tryst Ensemble. Created with cellist Christian Elliott, this is a flexible ensemble consisting of some of Scotland’s finest musicians who have had an association with us over the last few years.

The Cumnock Tryst Ensemble launch

Dumfries Arms Hotel

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

AMFS artist-faculty, all top musicians from renowned orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, come together to play their favorite chamber music works. Always a joyful and creative 75 minutes of music-making.

Chamber Music 2024 Concert 3

Aspen Meadows Resort

In a concert filled with thrillingly contrasting landscapes, Geoffrey Paterson makes his eagerly awaited return to Ensemble 10:10 bringing three classic pieces from three giants of the recent past – Takemitsu, Birtwistle and Ligeti (whose 100th anniversary we celebrate this year). Tansy Davies and a new work from Royal Philharmonic Society prize-winner Michael Betteridge bring us up to the minute

Ensemble 10:10

Yoko Ono Lennon Centre

Discover the captivating sounds of contemporary music at Real Collegio! Join us at 12:00 for a groundbreaking concert featuring works by Jörg Widmann, Unsuk Chin, Johnathan Harvey, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and Brett Dean. Experience the extraordinary talents of Yejin Gil, Adrian Brendel, Joanna MacGregor, and Carter Muller as they bring these innovative compositions to life. Witness the Italian premieres of Birtwistle's enchanting pieces and Dean's poignant "Huntington Eulogy." Don't miss this unique musical journey!

Today’s music Concert

Real Collegio

Today’s Music Concert 2023

Musicians Of Tomorrow

Southbank Centre

Aleck Karis, piano

University of California San Diego

### Event Description: Mahler and Birtwistle Concert by Fulham Symphony Orchestra

**Date:** 25 March 2023  
**Time:** 7:30 PM  
**Venue:** St John’s Smith Square, Westminster, London SW1P 3HF

Join the Fulham Symphony Orchestra, a big and ambitious amateur orchestra in London, for an evening of profound musical exploration featuring works by Harrison Birtwistle and Gustav Mahler.

**Programme:**
- **Harrison Birtwistle:** *Night’s Black Bird*  
  Inspired by the Elizabethan composer John Dowland, Birtwistle’s *Night’s Black Bird* takes listeners on an intense, expressionistic journey through a shadowy world haunted by the calls of birds.

- **Gustav Mahler:** *Symphony No. 10* (performing version by Deryck Cooke)  
  Mahler’s beautiful and moving 10th Symphony remained unfinished at his death. Musicologist Deryck Cooke spent many years perfecting this performing version, which has become the most widely performed version of the composer’s final masterpiece.

**Performers:**
- **Conductor:** Marc Dooley
- **Leader:** Tom Evans

**Tickets:**
- General Admission: £14
- Concessions: £12
- Under-16s: £9
- Online transaction fee: £3

**Additional Information:**
- Illustration by Caroline Whitehead
- For ticket purchases and more details, visit the Fulham Symphony Orchestra's website.

Experience an evening of evocative and masterful music with the Fulham Symphony Orchestra at the historic St John’s Smith Square.

Mahler and Birtwistle

St. John's Smith Square

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.

Harrison Birtwistle

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 20, 2026

Cycle the Score · Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Past events

Dec 12, 2025

George Benjamin & Pierre-Laurent Aimard · Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

11 - 30 Dec, 2025

Punch and Judy · Oper Frankfurt

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