January 2021

World premiere in China: “Ban Zhu /Gui No. 2” for bamboo flute orchestra by Xiaoyong Chen
While concert life has come to a virtual standstill in Europe and many other parts of the world, in the meantime it has been able to stabilise again in China.

Marius Felix Lange's opera “Snow Queen” receives its premiere in Japan
Marius Felix Lange's family operas, such as “Snow White”, “The Canterville Ghost” and “The Snow Queen”, are performed all over the world. Now, on 17 January 2021, even the Japanese premiere of...

Lera Auerbach’s string symphony “Memoria de la luz” as video streamed from Erie (Pennsylvania)
The Erie Philharmonic, conducted by Daniel Meyer, recorded Lera Auerbach’s string symphony “Memoria de la luz” in December 2020. This recording will be available as a video stream...

Remembering Ulrich Leyendecker on his 75th birthday
On 29 January this year, composer Ulrich Leyendecker, who died in Bonn on 29 November 2018, would have turned 75.

A stream of Grigori Frid’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” on German Holocaust Memorial Day 2021
The Bernburg Theatre will perform the premiere of Grigori Frid’s mono opera “The Diary of Anne Frank” planned for 27 January 2021, German Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Spanish Dance theatre project “Bogumer” with Galina Ustvolskaya’s composition no. 3 “Benedictus qui venit”
Despite the still tense Corona situation in Spain premiered on 23 January 2021.

The great music publisher Prof. Dr. Hans W. Sikorski dies
Prof. Dr Hans W. Sikorski is dead. He has died in Hamburg on 22 January 2021 at the age of 94.

100th Anniversary of the birth of Arno Babajanian
Armenian composer Arno Babajanian may not have achieved the international fame of his compatriot Aram Khachaturian, but many of his works are more than worthy of rediscovery and performance.

Gidon Kremer releases live recording of Mieczysław Weinberg’s Violin Concerto on CD
Mieczysław Weinberg’s Violin Concerto op. 67 is already more than sixty years old, but only over recent years has it attracted the more intense, indeed enthusiastic, attention it merits.

Herbert Baumann’s ballet “Alice in Wonderland” in Brisbane, Australia
A “Wonderland” that gives us hope and pleasure, but above all an Alice who pushes through small and larger miracles against all odds, is certainly something we could all use in these difficult times.

World premiere concert of Jan Müller-Wieland’s “Gottesspur” (Divine Trace) online
NDR Hannover has released a link for this remarkable concert.

The music of Galina Ustvolskaya’s impressive 5th symphony “Amen” conquers the USA
Together with members of his university orchestra, Christopher Russell, conductor and professor at Azusa Pacific University, intends to perform the 5th symphony “Amen”.

Shanna Pranaitis makes world premiere recordings of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’s flute works for NEOS
Like the oboe, the flute plays a prominent role in Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf's work.

Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic enthral with Myaskovsky and Prokofiev Symphonies
The eminent composer and professor of composition Myaskovsky (1881-1950) had Prokofiev during their joint years of study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

New Harmonia Mundi CD with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet op. 57 and the Seven Romances op. 127
The new album of the Trio Wanderer