Composer

Back in Berlin: after the triumphant success of its debut in 2024, the Kansas City Symphony accompanied by its conductor Matthias Pintscher is making a further guest appearance at the Musikfest Berlin. Alongside Tchaikovsky’s popular Violin Concerto with the Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot, the programme also includes Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 characterised by the emotions of grief and valediction. Olga Neuwirth’s orchestral pieces Tombeau I und Dreydl have a focus on transience and remembrance. The first work is a musical commemoration of Pierre Boulez. In the words of the Austrian composer, the title of the second piece alludes to the “fateful cycle of destiny”.

Kansas City Symphony

Berliner Philharmoniker

The second concert of Music Director Matthias Pintscher’s Rachmaninoff celebration sees Yefim Bronfman, one of the greatest pianists of our time, tackling the composer’s Third Piano Concerto, widely viewed as one of the most difficult concertos ever written. Film buffs may recognize it as the concerto in the 1996 movie “Shine.” The second part of the Rachmaninoff double feature is his Third Symphony, displaying his rich gifts for gorgeous melodies and yearning harmonies. Rounding out the program is the second installment of piano preludes commissioned specially for these concerts — including one by Matthias himself!

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Rachmaninoff Celebration, Part 2 Piano Concerto No. 3

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Imagine being immortal and witnessing four centuries of history firsthand—first as a man, then as a woman...

Or­lan­do

Schiller Theater

Gabriel Fauré's beloved Requiem, known for its calm and peaceful character unlike other requiems, performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir under the direction of Fredrik Burstedt. The concert begins with a performance of Austrian Olga Neuwirth's Tombeau II Hommage a Pierre Boulez, followed by the Swedish turn-of-the-century composer Helena Munktell's Suite for Large Orchestra 'Suite Symphonique' in four movements.

Fauré’s Requiem

Berwaldhallen

SR Berwaldhallen

The word “epic” could have been invented to describe the music of Götterdämmerung, the heaven-and-earth-shaking culmination of Wagner’s four-part Ring cycle, complete with vengeance, magic fire, and the redemptive power of love beyond death. Orchestral excerpts from this operatic thrill ride meld with the instantly charming neoclassicism of Prokofiev’s First Symphony and the US premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Zones of Blue, a clarinet concerto performed by its dedicatee and longtime friend of The Cleveland Orchestra, Jörg Widmann.

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Severance Music Center

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

Hans Werner Henze was not an ivory tower composer: uncompromising as well as politically committed, he viewed composing not in terms of style but rather as a means of exploring consciousness. Das Floß der Medusa (The Raft of the Medusa), dedicated to revolutionary leader Che Guevara, caused a scandal in the heated atmosphere of the 1960s. It tells the story of the frigate Méduse, which sank in 1816, and whose passengers, abandoned by its officers, drifted on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean for four weeks – an allegory of the abuse of power by those in authority. Sir Simon Rattle has immersed himself in this music, whose dark power and impulsive despair are impossible to ignore. Jörg Widmann will also be the featured soloist in the world premiere of Zones of Blue by Siemens Prize winner Olga Neuwirth.

Sir Simon Rattle | Das Floß der Medusa

Gasteig HP8

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

Chamber music concerts are an important part of the program. In various formations and ensembles, the musicians of the Orchester der Oper Zürich explore a wide repertoire. At close quarters and in intimate spaces, audiences experience the intensity of the musicians as they make music.

3rd Chamber Concert

Hall of Mirrors

When the important French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez died in 2016, the Austrian Olga Neuwirth remembered her patron in an obituary in the "Zeit" newspaper - his way of "looking at music in a completely different way". One of these masterpieces is "Pli selon pli" - which is now preceded by a new work by Neuwirth.

Music of the Time – Pierre Boulez's 100th birthday

Museum Ludwig

Commissioned by WDR, Radio France, Ircam-Centre Pompidou and Lucerne Festival with the support of the Pierre Boulez Foundation

Music of the Time - Pierre Boulez's 100th birthday

Cologne Philharmonie

‘I have spent my life trying to create a kind of cathedral of sound’. The words of Sofia Gubaidulina, one of the most significant living composers in the world. Her music, deeply spiritual and dramatic, forms the backbone of tonight’s celebration of International Women’s Day.

In this programme, Anja Bihlmaier makes her Manchester debut as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor and explores this kaleidoscopic programme. There’s the UK premiere of Dreydl by the genre-defying Olga Neuwirth, alongside music from American Sarah Gibson – beyond the beyond is a BBC commission, written as Sarah’s joy at becoming a mother was tempered by a progressive and terminal illness. This performance will see the posthumous premiere of the work.

A Celebration of International Women’s Day

The Bridgewater Hall

With mixed chamber music ensembles we get around some of the very latest music. Austrian Neuwirth cultivates the virtuoso and seeks out the extreme. Like here, where the instruments are twisted to the limit and amplified by electronics.

The Coming Of Spring

Southern Danish Conservatory of Music

François-Xavier Roth

Munich Residence

Music of Time - Guest Performance Hamburg | Elbphilharmonie Visions

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Exceptional violinist Arabella Steinbacher inspired the Luxembourg composer Georges Lentz to write an unearthly and beautiful violin concerto. In it, the sound of the violin spreads out in the Philharmonie like starlight under the sky of the Australian outback, where Lentz composed his piece. In her large orchestral piece "Masaot", Olga Neuwirth enters a river of memories and associations: music as both home and foreign. Georges Aperghis instigates a new celebration of orchestral virtuosity with his eighth etude.

Music of the Time - Distantly Familiar

Exceptional violinist Arabella Steinbacher inspired the Luxembourg composer Georges Lentz to write an unearthly and beautiful violin concerto. In it, the sound of the violin spreads out across the Philharmonie like starlight under the sky of the Australian outback, where Lentz composed his piece. In her large orchestral piece Masaot, Olga Neuwirth enters a river of memories and associations: music as both home and foreign. Georges Aperghis instigates a new celebration of orchestral virtuosity with his eighth etude.

Music of the Time – Distantly Familiar

It's a story of shared admiration and friendship. In 1999, in preparation for his 75th birthday, Olga Neuwirth dedicated a fascinating piece inspired by Ray Bradbury to Pierre Boulez. Ecstatic, the French conductor and composer in turn conducted the music of his young colleague, who pays tribute to him today, here as a curtain-raiser. The evening's story continues, punctuated by the dazzling performance of Michaël Levinas writing for solo organ, before two French premieres by the star composer of the 2025 edition.

Tribute to Pierre Boulez

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

All music tells a story, but the best music tells more than one. Shostakovich’s Festival Overture opens with jubilant trumpets – but this was the Soviet Union, so it would do, wouldn’t it? Prokofiev wrote his Sixth Symphony in the aftermath of World War Two, and though it’s certainly an epic, it’s far from clear that it ends in anything as simple as triumph. As you’d expect from Ilan Volkov, it’s the climax of a whole evening of music that asks as many questions as it answers, including Olga Neuwirth’s utterly original vision of a robot creator going terrifyingly off the rails. Armed with DJ turntables, a megaphone and clicking metal frogs, soloist Colin Currie - possibly the world’s greatest living percussionist – is the only man who can stop it…

Colin Currie & Ilan Volkov

Glasgow City Hall

Join the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) for a remarkable evening dedicated to the legacy of Pierre Boulez, a towering figure in contemporary music. This special concert, part of the LSO Futures series, is set to take place at the Barbican on Sunday, 26 January 2025, at 7pm. Under the baton of François-Xavier Roth, a fervent champion of Boulez's work, the orchestra will explore the profound influence of Boulez through a blend of his compositions and those of his beloved Debussy, alongside the excitement of three world premieres.

The concert will feature Debussy's "Gigues" and "Ibéria" from "Trois images pour orchestre," showcasing the composer's revolutionary musical language and precise sound worlds that Boulez so admired. Boulez's own "Notations Nos 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7" will be presented, pieces that began as piano compositions and were later transformed by Boulez into vivid orchestral works.

Adding to the evening's allure are world premieres by Olga Neuwirth, Rafael Marino Arcaro, and Lara Agar, co-commissioned by the LSO. These pieces draw inspiration from Boulez's pioneering spirit and innovative use of color and form, promising a night of fresh and engaging music.

The concert is not only a tribute to Boulez in his centenary year but also a celebration of the future of music, with the LSO at the forefront of commissioning and performing new works. The event will conclude at approximately 8:50 pm, including a 20-minute interval.

Tickets are available in various price ranges, with discounts offered for multiple bookings, young people, students, and groups. For those looking for a unique experience, Wildcards offer guaranteed entry with seat allocation on the day of the concert. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of contemporary classical music and to celebrate the enduring legacy of Pierre Boulez with the London Symphony Orchestra.

LSO Futures: Homage to Pierre Boulez

Barbican Centre

Boulez adored Debussy’s precise sound worlds as well as his revolutionary musical language. Gigues and Ibéria from Trois images are stunning orchestral portraits of England and Spain.  

London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth

Prokofiev saw his Fifth Symphony as “glorifying the grandeur of the human spirit.” Thomas Søndergård, in his NY Phil debut, conducts the concerts, which open with Lili Boulanger’s cheerful ode to a spring morning. Olga Neuwirth’s Project 19 commission sets to music texts by Ariosto, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, graffiti artists, and others, including Neuwirth herself.

Prokofiev’s Fifth and Olga Neuwirth

Lincoln Center

The second weekend of the Cabrillo Festival begins with works by Gabriella Smith, Julia Wolfe, Gabriela Ortiz, Robert Hughes, and Olga Neuwirth.

Gabriella Smith’s music is described as “high-voltage and wildly imaginative” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “the coolest, most exciting, most inventive new voice I’ve heard in ages” (Musical America). Her work, f(x)=sin²x-1/x, draws inspiration from mathematical curves to build waves of musical energy

Rise And Fly

Civic Auditorium Santa Cruz

Our Festival this year carries the title “Journeys of Faith”. Through a series of panel discussions pairing Jewish and Black pastors and clergy, our Festival sponsors and partners will seek to connect those Louisvillian communities through discussions of faith and life experience. Their goal is to enable a better understanding of one another and achieve connection through a renewed foundation of relationship. Musically the LO will explore the music of Jewish composers Leonard Bernstein and Olga Neuwirth and an important work by Joel Thompson based on the words of African-American writer James Baldwin. American music will welcome two brand new compositions to its ranks from our Creators Corps members, TJ Cole and Tyler Taylor.

Classics: Festival of American Music 1- Journeys of Faith

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

Regarded as the world’s leading contemporary music group, Ensemble Intercontemporain, make a rare appearance to present Olga Neuwirth’s score for the 1924 silent film Die Stadt ohne Juden, based on the novel of the same name by Hugo Bettauer from 1922. Under their music director Matthias Pintscher, the French musicians will accompany the movie directed by Hans Karl Breslauer with Neuwirth’s music that is “both touching and harsh, warm-hearted and open, amusing and furious, involved and distanced, humorous and sad all at once.”

Ensemble Intercontemporain

Walt Disney Concert Hall

CSO Creative Partner Matthias Pintscher conducts the Orchestra on this remarkable journey through time. Written during the pandemic, Olga Neuwirth’s kaleidoscopic Dreydl sparks a sense of motion, spinning incessantly without end. Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia bridges centuries of music, weaving past and present into a single, intellectually charged experience that includes a nod to Beethoven. The sheer virtuosity of the vocal band Roomful of Teeth adds a new dimension to the Berio experience. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastorale, returns us to the origin of this lineage, its serene landscapes and lyrical beauty providing a radiant conclusion. 

Composer

Olga Neuwirth

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 27, 2027

Beethoven & Berio · Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Aug 30, 2026

Kansas City Symphony · Berliner Philharmoniker

5 - 7 Jun, 2026

Rachmaninoff Celebration, Part 2 Piano Concerto No. 3 · Kansas City Symphony

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