Conductor

EPSG:4326

Filippo Gorini - 35° Festival Milano Musica

Teatro alla Scala

What do insect molting and large-scale tree fungi have in common? They follow a clear process, both intoxicating and fragile. Take Stefan Wirth's "Eleusis," for example: Like tree mycelia, which can form a vast fungal network, the orchestra spreads throughout the entire space. The Swiss composer, who teaches in Lucerne, speaks of a "ritual act." A trance-like state is expressly desired.

Rausch / Mushrooms

Philharmonic Essen

Intoxication / Mushrooms

Stadtcasino Basel

Prophetiae — Cantando Admont · Bürgi

Kollegienkirche

“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

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

Conductor Jack Sheen returns to the BBC Symphony Orchestra with four works – all receiving their UK premieres. Polish composer Lidia Zielińska explores dramatic contrasts. German composer Beat Furrer challenges soloist and orchestra in his virtuosic Piano Concerto. Italian Francesca Verunelli uses a detuned piano to destabilise our ears in Tune and Retune, and Øyvind Torvund takes us on quirky walk in a forest, complete with birdsong.

New Music with Jack Sheen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBC Maida Vale Studios

“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

With Beat Furrer's extensive vocal cycle Akusmata, Klangforum Wien and the vocal ensemble Cantando Admont are premiering a composition specially created for the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Furrer, who is regarded as one of the most important composers of our time, works with literary texts by Pythagoras for this demanding cycle and creates completely new, complex soundscapes as a result.

Dortmund Zeitinsel 2024 - Sound Cosmos Beat Furrer

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

Kollegienkirche, Salzburg

Patricia Alessandrini’s intricate sound sculptures encompass a seemingly unlimited range of tonal colours and textures, both acoustic and electronic. The American composer and sound artist, whose teachers include Tristan Murail and Thea Musgrave, received praise from Gramophone for ‘her formidably disciplined manipulation of febrile emotions’. Her captivating art, including a major new composition, is complemented by the restless energy of Beat Furrer’s Aria from 1998-9.

Conductor

Beat Furrer

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 3, 2026

Schallfeld Ensemble; Marisol Montalvo soprano; Johanna Vargas soprano · Wigmore Hall

Past events

Apr 28, 2026

Filippo Gorini - 35° Festival Milano Musica ·

Nov 2, 2025

Rausch / Mushrooms · Basel Sinfonietta

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Begehren by Furrer

Klangforum Wien

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