Composer

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.

EPSG:4326

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

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

Barbican Centre

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

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

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

Cologne Philharmonie

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

Museum Ludwig

Music of Time - Guest Performance Hamburg | Elbphilharmonie Visions

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

François-Xavier Roth

Munich Residence

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

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

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.

Olga Neuwirth

Composer

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 26, 2025

London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth · Barbican Centre

Jan 26, 2025

LSO Futures: Homage to Pierre Boulez · London Symphony Orchestra

Feb 6, 2025

Colin Currie & Ilan Volkov · BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Feb 8, 2025

Music of the Time - Distantly Familiar · WDR Sinfonieorchester

Feb 8, 2025

Music of the Time – Distantly Familiar · Kölner Philharmonie

Past events

18 - 20 Apr, 2024

Prokofiev’s Fifth and Olga Neuwirth · New York Philharmonic

Aug 12, 2023

Rise And Fly · Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

About

Olga Neuwirth hasn't added a bio