THE APPROACH OF SUMMERTIME 2014!

The month of April began with an exiting CD production in the auditorium of Grafenegg castle near Vienna: Xincao Li (China National Symphony Orchestra) conducted the 3rd symphony „Chinese Seasons“, as well as the Sheng-Concerto „Changes“ with Vesselina Kasarova (Mezzo) and WuWei (Sheng). Later on in May, three world premieres will follow: Georg Wendt (Halle) will perform my new organ composition „Monumentum 2014“ in the Berlin Cathedral. On the 25th of May, I will personally conduct my symphonic composition „CITY LIFE – Hommage an das Ruhrgebiet“ for an orchestra, 4 saxophones and 6 'industrial percussionists' in Essen (in the old Krupp factory). This is a project of the Arts Council North-Rhine Westphalia. On the 30th of May, the Regensburg Cathedral will host my multilingual composition „Pater Noster“ for a choir with six voices. This performance is part of the German Catholics Day (Deutscher Katholikentag) 2014, an event where three more of my compositions will be used for the open air closing church service.

In addition to all of that, there are also my other ongoing performances: The Staatsoper München in Munich is going to showcase my composition „Ali und der Zauberkrug“ several times, starting in May. There is also my composition „Sonnengesang“ for 8 voices. The Regensburg Domspatzen Choir is going to perform it on the occasion of the „Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern“, titled honorably 'VON PALESTRINA BIS ENJOTT SCHNEIDER'. Although it can be somewhat exhausting, considering my labor- and travel-intensive duties as chairman of the supervisory board of the GEMA and president of the German Composer Association, I will also be composing non-stop this time of the year. My agenda for the coming months includes, amongst other things, the violin concert „Augen der Erde“ for Ingolf Turban, the double concert „Isolde und Tristan“ for Beiru Xu (Erhu) and Wensinn Yang (Cello), to be conducted by Xincao Li in China, the organ composition „Jubilissimo“ on the occasion of the 10 year anniversary of the Essen Philharmonics, the sextet „Dunkelreise nach Fragmenten von Hans Rott“ for the Berlin Ensemble, the 14th organ symphony „Romanische“ and a lot of other fascinating projects … When it comes to writing music, I tend to be a bit old-fashioned as I write my music by hand (see photo of the score for CITY LIFE), - and that hand is beginning to hurt!