The Henze Project
New Music for a Metropolis
Hans Werner Henze / Photo: Ursula Kaufmann
Hans Werner Henze's music is like a seismograph that registers the finest social and political vibrations. It is contemporary and relevant in that it appeals to people's desire to work together to achieve the ideal of freedom and integrity. Born in Gütersloh - his grandfather a miner, his mother from Witten - Hans Werner Henze is one of the most important living composers. His works span a rare diversity and breadth. As a teacher, festival director, promoter of talented youngsters and trailblazer, he is one of the most influential protagonists and pioneers of the modern age.
Now, the entire musical landscape of the Ruhr Metropolis is coming together to form a network of New Music in homage to Hans Werner Henze, composer and musical visionary. Between January and December 2010, over 40 partners will present Henze's musical and social projects from the early days to the present: opera, ballets, symphony concerts, chamber music and radio operas. A film retrospective, an orchestra festival, a symposium and a composition competition will all explore Henze's achievements and influence.
The "Education Communication Composition" series will focus in particular on understanding New Music and communicating it throughout the year to young audiences. The aim is to demonstrate that concentrated learning, quiet study and free improvisation can provide a fundamental answer to the overwhelming stimuli and demands that surround us.
Enjoying the limelight among the performances will be an opera commissioned by the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 and the Semperoper opera house in Dresden: "Gisela or: The Strange and Memorable Ways of Good Fortune". The opera will be premièred as a Ruhrtriennale production directed by Pierre Audi. Inspired by the open-to-view stages of industrial venues, Henze is developing a musical work for an ensemble comprising children, young artists, amateurs and professional musicians.
The story will be set in Oberhausen and Naples. The plot races ahead to a dark age in the future that lays bare the spells and shocks that have buried the past and the present in these locations. "The Manon Affair", an Internet opera, is a one-year community project in 52 episodes. In the "mytunes.nrw" Academy for Young Music, schoolchildren will engage in dialogue with contemporary composers, experimenting with personal forms of expression: "I can hear what you can't see!"
A book about the programme entitled "The Henze Project. New Music for a Metropolis" has been published in december 2009.
Partners: Aalto Ballett Theater Essen, Aalto Musiktheater Essen, Dortmund Ballet Company, Hagen Ballet Company, Schindowski Ballet - Musiktheater im Revier, Bermuda 4, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Bottrop Chamber Orchestra, German Youth Jazz Orchestra with the Splash youth percussion ensemble, Filmkunsttheater Casablanca Bochum, Celloherbst am Hellweg, Dortmund Choral Academy, German Opera on the Rhine, Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, NRW Ensemble for New Music, Europe's Young Sound (German Music Council, NRW Music Association, NRW Association of Music Schools), Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, Protestant Office of Culture 2010, Folkwang University, integral::festival Recklinghausen, NRW Youth Jazz Orchestra, NRW Youth Brass Orchestra, Klangvokal Music Festival Dortmund, Ruhr Piano Festival, NRW Youth Accordion Orchestra, NRW Youth Orchestra, NRW Youth String Orchestra, mommenta Dortmund, Neuss Music School, Musiktheater Dortmund, Musiktheater Hagen, Musiktheater im Revier, New Westphalian Philharmonic Orchestra, NRW KULTURsekretariat Wuppertal, Essen Philharmonic Hall, Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra, RUHRTRIENNALE, Town of Gütersloh, "An Instrument for Every Child" Foundation, Herne Early Music Days, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Witten New Chamber Music Days
Sponsored by the NRW Artistic Foundation
Related topic:
An Instrument for Every Child
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