franghiz ali-zadeh turns 65 - sikorski...khachaturian’s “gayaneh,” many cho-reographers tend...

01/11 SIKORSKI MUSIC PUBLISHERS • WWW.SIKORSKI.DE • [email protected]

magazine

BIRTHDAYS AND COMMEMORATION DAYS 2012

MODERN BALLET AND BALLET MUSIC

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Turns 65

70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin

Music Is (Also)Mathematics – the Complex Oeuvre of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

101207_sik0111_engl_k5_Layout 1 Kopie 08.12.10 16:02 Seite 1

CO

NTEN

TS

03 Modern Ballet and Ballet Music

70th Birthday of John Neumeier

and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin

06 Music Is (Also) Mathematics –

the Complex Oeuvre of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

07 Not Only for Azerbaijan

a Reason to Celebrate:

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Turns 65

NEWSRuzicka’s “EINSCHREIBUNG” in Memory of Mahler

The music of Gustav Mahler and its interpretation throughthe philosopher Theodor W. Adorno are central subjects inthe work of the conductor and composer Peter Ruzicka. The contradictions and darkest depths of the soul inMahler’s music were, already for the young Ruzicka, a point of departure for his own aesthetic. “Large late-romantic string gestures in which Mahler’s tone shimmersthrough stand as a sign of utopia for Ruzicka to the presentday. Ruzicka has now composed his latest work‘EINSCHREIBUNG’ in response to a commission from theNDR Hamburg,” the NDR announces the anxiously awaitedworld premiere of “EINSCHREIBUNG,” Six Pieces for LargeOrchestra by Peter Ruzicka on 10 February 2011 at theLaeiszhalle in Hamburg. Christoph Eschenbach will directthe NDR Symphony Orchestra in this concert.

editorial

Dear Reader,

According to the Duden etymological

dictionary, composition is nothing but

the construction and design of

a work of art. Regarded in this way,

choreographers are exactly like

composers who organise and form

tones - more or less composers of

sequences of movement. From

numerous choreographies of works

from our catalogues, we have experi-

enced how close the relationship bet-

ween genuine composers and compo-

sing choreographers is.

The cooperation of the American cho-

reographer and ballet director John

Neumeier, who has lived in Hamburg

for decades, with composers such as

Lera Auerbach, Alfred Schnittke and

Arvo Pärt, is outstanding.

The great avant-gardist Claus-Steffen

Mahnkopf, who structures and organi-

ses his complex scores like a mathema-

tician, thereby discovering the most

fascinating sound worlds, will be cele-

brating a round birthday in 2012. There

is a striking accumulation of round

birthdays in the Scandinavian countries,

moreover, where we are privileged to

represent a number of composers.

Discover with us the variety of this

music and its creators!

Dagmar Sikorski

Dr. Axel Sikorski

2|SIKORSKI magazine


ust as difficult as dancing itself – thedirect expression of spiritual states

through movement and a controlledbodily position – is finding the appro-priate music for free or subject-boundchoreographies. Beyond full-length bal-lets such as Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeoand Juliet ” or “ Cinderella,” or AramKhachaturian’s “Gayaneh,” many cho-reographers tend to compile their ownworks out of many heterogeneous musi-cal sections with which to underpin theirchoreographies. One of the greatest choreographers ofthe present day is unquestionably JohnNeumeier. He will be celebrating his70th birthday on 24 February 2012, andwe can be sure that new choreographiesand a number of excerpts from his ear-lier gigantic production, in many casesbound with composers of our publishingcompany, will be seen to celebrate thisoccasion. John Neumeier has been the balletdirector and head choreographer of theHamburg Ballet since 1973. He was bornin Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1942, recei-ved his dance training in Copenhagenand later at the Royal Ballet School inLondon and was engaged by JohnCranko for his Stuttgart Ballet in 1963.From 1969 until 1973, Neumeier wasballet director in Frankfurt am Main. Inhis choreographic works, he is concer-ned with finding contemporary forms fortraditional ballet classics, but also for

THE PREMATURELY DECEASED CHOREOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR OF THELEIPZIG BALLET COMPANY, UWE SCHOLZ, ONCE SAID: “THE DIFFICULT THINGABOUT DANCING IS SHOWING WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL ABOUT DANCING SOTHAT WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL DOES NOT LOOK DIFFICULT.”

COVER

SIKORSKI magazine|3

J

Modern Ballet and Ballet Music70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin

dancing great classical works of musicsuch as Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphonyor Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.” Neumeier already formed a close con-nection to Alfred Schnittke during the1980s, and during recent years he alsoformed a close relationship with theRussian-American composer LeraAuerbach during the course of severalsensational productions. Most choreo-graphers feel magically attracted to the strong radiance of the music ofSchnittke. It creates associations which,among other things, have their origin inthe variety of overlapping and combina-tion of stylistic elements. It is known thatthe Polish modernist composer WitoldLutoslawski, who died in 1994, did notwant his music to be used for ballet pro-ductions. For him, the scenic eventswere a distraction from the musical substance; the listening experience washis primary concern. Schnittke was com-pletely different: his music already attimes contains images within itself and at least allows for a visualisation of the texture of relationships, if it doesn’texpressly require it. Neumeier’s ambitions are clearly relatedto the musical concerns of AlfredSchnittke. A story, whether the realisati-on of Shakespeare’s often retold Othelloor the tale of Cinderella, is never a rigidstructure for him, with a framework that must not be broken. The subject isconsiderably expanded, new relations-

hips are built up, questions are askedwhich frequently remain open.Choreography and music ultimatelyallow a kaleidoscope-like structure toarise in which the listener and spectatorgain impressions and can take theirown positions.

”A Streetcar Named Desire”based on Alfred Schnittke

The Hamburg Ballet opened its guestseason 2010-2011 in autumn 2010 withthe Baden-Baden premiere of von “A Streetcar Named Desire .” JohnNeumeier’s company gave seven guestperformances at the Festspielhaus.Alongside the already legendary choreo-graphy based on Tennessee Williams’theatre classic, they had a ballet work-shop as well as a “Hommage aux Ballets Russes” in their baggage. John Neumeier had already adaptedTennessee Williams’ famous drama “AStreetcar named Desire” for a ballet inStuttgart in 1983; Marcia Haydée andRichard Cragun danced the leadingroles. The Hamburg premiere of“Streetcar” then took place in 1987 withColleen Scott and Ivan Liška.In April and May 2010, the NorwegianNational Ballet presented it at the OsloOpera House. In “Streetcar NamedDesire,” Neumeier uses the SymphonyNo. 1 by Alfred Schnittke and the“Visions fugitives ” Op. 22 by SergeiProkofiev.


4|SIKORSKI magazine

70th Birthday of John Neumeier and 80th Birthday of Rodion Shchedrin

WORKS CHOREOGRAPHED INBALLETS OF JOHN NEUMEIER

Lera Auerbach: 24 Preludes for Violoncello and Piano(in “Préludes CV”)24 Preludes for Violin and Piano (in“Préludes CV”)“The Little Mermaid.” Ballet based onH.C. Andersen“Eugene Onegin.” Ballet, premiereJune 2012

Gustav Mahler:Symphony No. 10 (Mahler/Cooke)26.06.2011Premiere: Ballet at the Hamburg State Opera

Arvo Pärt:“Perpetuum mobile” (“Seven Haikus of the Moon”)(“Seven Haikus of the Moon”)

Sergej Prokofjew:“Visions fugitives”(in “A Streetcar Named Desire”) “Romeo and Juliet”“Cinderella”

Alfred Schnittke:“Peer Gynt.“ Ballet in 3 Acts, aPrologue and an Epilogue by JohnNeumeier freely adapted from HenrikIbsen’s Dramatic PoemConcerto grosso No. 1 for 2 Violinsand Orchestra (in “Othello”)Symphony No. 1 (in “A StreetcarNamed Desire”)

Dmitri Schostakowitsch:Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905,”Op. 103 (in “Nijinsky”)

Schnittke’s and Neumeier’s“Peer GyntAfter “A Streetcar Named Desire” and“Othello,” which was based onSchnittke’s Concerto grosso No. 1 ,among other works, it was above all thefirst full-length ballet music based onHenrik Ibsen’s “ Peer Gynt ” that was tomanifest John Neumeier’s and AlfredSchnittke’s artistic collaboration andattract international attention. Neumeier admitted that he had dreamt ofa collaboration like that between MikhailFokine and Igor Stravinsky, and he wroteto Schnittke: “Later, when I worked on theballet ‘Peer Gynt’ with you, Alfred, thisdream came true for me (...).” Neumeierhas repeatedly stated how stronglySchnittke’s music inspired him to createchoreographic scenes. Schnittke, for hispart, designated the choreography ofNeumeier as “something completelynovel, that in its multi-dimensionality hasnever before existed.” And he askedNeumeier to be allowed to dedicate thescore of “Peer Gynt” to him – “if itsomehow corresponds to the meaningof what you have created.” “Peer Gynt”was the first ballet that Neumeier desi-gned in direct collaboration with a livingcomposer. However, this type of sharedwork was new for Schnittke as well: “itstimulates me,” he said before the pre-miere on 22 January 1989. “I have neverbefore written a piece for ballet that Icould develop together with a choreo-grapher – based on inexhaustiblematerial that allows for many contra-dictory interpretations.”

Lera Auerbach and JohnNeumeier Create “PréludesCV” and “The Little Mermaid”At the beginning of the new millennium,John Neumeier’s collaboration with LeraAuerbach was to become just as close aswas the relationship to Alfred Schnittke. In2003, Neumeier created a full-length bal-let to Auerbach’s 24 Preludes forVioloncello and Piano and the 24Preludes for Violin and Piano . He com-pletely involved himself in the music whilecreating the choreography, Neumeierremembers. With his 17 solo roles whichhe allowed to appear in abstract dance-like formations, his ballet “ Préludes CV ”assumed an exceptional position: “I don’tbelieve that there has been another balletin history with so many solo parts.” The second collaboration with LeraAuerbach was the celebrated work com-missioned by the Royal Theatre inCopenhagen on the occasion of the200th birthday of Hans ChristianAndersen. Auerbach composed the full-length ballet music “The Little Mermaid”

for Neumeier, which was premiered withgreat success on 15 April 2005. Concerning her collaboration with JohnNeumeier on this work, Lera Auerbachonce said: “The peculiar quality of thea-tre music is that there are extra-musicalframes to work with. One needs to finda balance between achieving what youintend to create artistically and yetmake it work organically together withall the dramatic requirements of thetheatre. If music becomes only a servantof the dance, as happened with many19th century ballets, then it is a pro-blem. The other difficulty is the length.With the Little Mermaid we have fullthree acts - and to sustain your bestquality within the span of a three-hourproduction where the overall architec-ture needs to hold the structure toget-her is definitely a challenge.”

“Nijinsky” according to ShostakovichThe production “ Nijinsky” by JohnNeumeier received its premiere on 2July 2000 at the Hamburg State Opera.The choreography is, according to t heHamburg ballet director, not a dance-likesketch of the life of the great dancer andstar of the Ballets russes, but a biogra-phy of the soul, the feelings and conditi-ons of this artist who became so serious-ly ill at the end of his life. To underpin hisballet visions, Neumeier makes use ofthe music of Dmitri Shostakovich ,among other works. One hears excerptsfrom the 11th Symphony “The Year1905,” Op. 103 and the Sonata forViola and Piano, Op. 147, the final workof this composer which can be under-stood as a kind of legacy.

Mahler BalletsWith his choreography of Gustav Mahler’sThird Symphony, John Neumeier created asensational choreography which allowedspectators to experience the music of thegreat symphonist in a new perspective.Now, on 26 June 2011, his choreography tothe legendary Symphony No. 10 ofGustav Mahler in the version of the adap-ter Deryck Cooke will receive its pre-miere at the Hamburg State Opera.

Choreography of Pärt John Neumeier has also placed a work on the programme of the HamburgerBallet Days 2010 that he had once choreo-graphed for the Tokyo Ballet: “SevenHaiku of the Moon.” This ballet on an Asian subject is musically illustrated by Arvo Pärt’ s well-known“Perpetuum mobile” and the Sarabandefrom the “ Collage on B-A-C-H ,” amongother works.

Rodion ShchedrinTurns 80

“I have been lucky. Maya is a muse forme. When this muse is also one’s ownwife, then that always helps. OnlyMaya Plisetskaya has inspired me towrite ballets. I am never bored with mywife. She is paradoxical, sensitive,feminine and educated. You know,people think I am a passionate balletfan. But that is not true. Up until now,


Modern Ballet and Ballet Music

I cannot call myself a ballet fanatic. Iam instead a Maya fanatic ...” (quotedfrom: Rodion Shchedrin: A ModernRussian Composer, Mainz 2008)Rodion Shchedrin was born in Moscowon 16 December 1932. He studied atthe Conservatory there from 1950 until1955 and taught at this institutionduring the 1960s. Shchedrin, who soonbecame well known far beyond theboundaries of his homeland, above allrepresenting the Russian music scene insuccession to Shostakovich in the West,was for many years the Chairman of theRussian Composers Union prior to thedissolution of the Soviet Union. Todayhe lives in Moscow and Munich. Alreadyin 1976 he was named a correspondingmember of the Bavarian Academy ofFine Arts and has also been a memberof the Berlin Academy of the Arts since1989. Shchedrin’s catalogue of works compri-ses symphonies, concertos, numerouschoral compositions operas and cham-ber music. But the composer has beco-me primarily renowned for his ballets,especially “Anna Karenina” based onLeo Tolstoy from the year 1971. Likemany other works of this genre, this bal-let was composed for his wife MayaPlisetskaya, one of Russia’s greatestprima ballerinas. Almost all of his balletswere premiered at the Bolschoi Theatre:“Carmen Suite ” (1967), “ The Seagull ”(1979) und “Lady with Lapdog” (1985).The "Carmen Suite," an ingenious adap-tation of the opera by Georges Bizet forstrings and percussion, meanwhilebelongs to the most frequently perfor-med ballets suites of the twentieth cen-tury. In this work, the composer RodionShchedrin above all reveals himself tobe a refined practical musician, orche-strator and arranger. In his compositions, Shchedrin combineselements of folklore and traditional sty-listic means reflecting the great Russianclassics such as Dmitri Kabalevsky andDmitri Shostakovich together withmodern compositional methods inclu-ding collage and aleatorics. His beauti-ful, palatable “Anna-Karenina” music,illustrative almost in the manner of film music, contrasts sharply with poly-phonically complex, strict and uncom-promising compositions such as the”Music for the City of Köthen. ”From Sergei Prokofiev, who also stron-gly influenced Shchedrin’s manner ofcomposing, Shchedrin takes over thetendency towards marked rhythms anda constructive, comprehensible, cleargestural language. The force of tensionand definite versatility of his music arenourished by his play with timbres, con-

stantly alternating lyrical and dramaticsections as well as broad melodic lines. Shchedrin’s most significant works forthe concert stage include Concerto No.1 “Brash Orchestral Jests,” “Music forthe City of Köthen” for chamber orche-stra, “Mnogiya Leta” for mixed choir,piano and three groups of idiophonepercussion instruments as well as“Stichira” for orchestra.

The Humpbacked PonyThis ballet is based on a tale by PyotrYershov. The plot is quite classical forthe fairytale genre. Three farmerbrothers are assigned with the task ofobserving their father’s wheat field,which is always being devastated. Onlythe youngest brother succeeds in thetaking the culprit into custody. The beau-tiful mare buys her freedom, however, bygiving him two horses with golden manesand a humpbacked pony. Of course theelder brothers claim the beautiful animalsfor themselves and leave the humpbackedpony for the youngest brother. But thispony stands courageously by his sideduring the further course of the story,even enabling him to win the heart of theTsar’s daughter.

Carmen SuiteThe subject of the opera is based on anovelette by the French romanticistProsper Mérimée: the beautiful Carmenattracts the attention of Don José. Whena loud argument arises with the otherfemale workers in a cigarette factory,Carmen is also arrested but can get out ofit thanks to her arts of seduction. Fromnow on the young Don José has fallen vic-tim to her. When Carmen then falls in lovewith the bullfighter Escamillo and wants toleave Don José, the jealous man, full ofdespair, stabs her.

Anna KareninaIn a passionate novel, Leo Tolstoy tells ofthe passionate love of the beautiful, mar-ried Anna Karenina for the young officerVronsky. She ultimately sacrifices her exi-stence to him and leaves her husband andson. She returns full of remorse, but issocially scorned. When Vronsky finallyturns his attention to the young PrincessSorokina, Anna Karenina throws herself infront of a train.

The SeagullAnton Chekhov’s drama of the samename is a psychological drama. The sym-bol for the unconditional will to live andinsatiable longing of the main characterNina Sarechnaya is the seagull. The prota-gonist divides her love between two men.One of them, the author Konstantin

CURRENT CDs/DVDs WITHBALLET MUSIC BY RODIONSHCHEDRIN

CDsCarmen-Suitea. Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, cond.:Misha Rachlevsky. – CLAVES 50-2207b. Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie,cond.: Michael Sanderling. – GENUIN GEN 87522

DVDsAnna KareninaBolschoi Theatre, cond.: Yuri Simonov,Choreography by Maya Plisetskayafrom the year 1974. –VAI DVD 4286

Carmen-SuiteBolschoi Theatre, cond.: GennadyRoshdestvensky, Choreography byAlberto Alonso from the year 1969. –VAI DVD 4294

The Humpbacked PonyBolschoi Theatre, cond.: ZoyaTulubyeva, Choreography by Alexander Radunsky from the year 1969. –VAI DVD 4294

Treplev, ultimately burns his manuscriptsand shoots himself. Far away, a seagullmakes its way as the symbol of longingand unfulfilled desires.

Lady with LapdogThe young Anna and Dmitri meet at a spa.Both are attached but sense a strongattraction towards each other. Their sepa-ration is unbearable for both sides. WhenDmitri meets Anna anew, it becomes clearto him that she is the only true love in hislife. She feels the same way but suffersfrom the secrecy to which she is forcedthrough their meetings, which now takeplace ever more frequently. The openend of the story is not exclusively over-shadowed by despair and resignation.The lovers live in the certainty that some-day a solution will be found and a newlife will begin.

SIKORSKI magazin e|5


6|SIKORSKI magazine

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

umerous book publications, includ-ing the volume of essays “The

Humanity of Music” published by WolkeVerlag, bear witness to Mahnkopf’s verbalart of representation, which also helpsmany people to understand his musicalstructures. Mahnkopf understands theunity of composing, for example, as fol-lows: “All composers are bound togetherby a common problem: the necessity tohelp the organisation of the material andits structuring to find an existence at all, orto add a surcharge to its conventionalform. Whoever does not do this is not acomposer in the sense we mean inWestern history. (...) The work on the gen-uine problems and the demand to notexactly show oneself as unperturbed inthem is, alongside the much strongerobjective motivation, a reason for materi-al progress. (...) The unity of composingwill be tenacious in the future as well, sim-ply for reasons of an imposed demarca-tion from arrangement and computer-organised simulation.” Claus-SteffenMahnkopf, from Mannheim, will turn 50on 22 October 2012. He studied compo-sition with Brian Ferneyhough, KlausHuber and Emanuel Nunes, piano withJames Avery, music theory Peter Förtigand also musicology, philosophy andother subjects with Jürgen Habermas aswell as sociology with Ludwig vonFriedeberg. In 1993 he received his Ph.D.with a dissertation on Arnold Schönberg.Alongside his compositional activities, hehas published over 120 essays, written fivebooks and edited ten others. In these hetreats not only subjects from the area ofcontemporary music but also composerpersonalities such as Wagner and Cage aswell as the musical philosophy of Adorno.

All of the works of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf sofar published by Sikorski

have already been issued orwill soon be issued in the

series “exempla nova.”

Mahnkopf’s “ Hommage à Frank Cox ”for piano, quarter-tone vibraphone andelectric guitar received its world pre-miere in Leipzig on 11 November 2011performed by the ‘Ensemble asamisi-masa’ from Oslo. As so often, the com-poser does not merely have a point ofdeparture, but approaches his subjectfrom different sides. This piece, forexample, is about a musician whom thecomposer praises from his high degreeof specialisation as a cellist, his complex-ity as a composer and his penetration ofthe given material as an author.Mahnkopf selected three instruments torepresent these three levels. The vibra-phone is to be understood as a sugges-tion of a keyboard on which the authortypes, the piano corresponds to theplace where the composer looks forsounds and the electric guitar representsthe performance of the practical musi-cian. The three musicians play independ-ently of each other for the most part,although they are temporally coordinat-ed. “Morphologically speaking, my pointof departure was the (very simple) sinuswave, the mathematical function ofwhich I continually enriched throughadditives, so that the formal sections ofall three instruments could be formedlike a large network of variations.“The refinement of the sound texture, therichness of variety of the individual sec-tions and the incredibly radiant power of

His music is not easy to play, nor can it be easily or directly comprehended.Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf is the great intellectual among the composers of thepresent day, but not one to hide behind thought structures, let alone refuse tomake statements about his works.

Music Is the Complex Oeuvre of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

N his music, as in the harpsichord piece“Pegasos” on Mahnkopf’s portrait CDissued by Wergo make listening to hisworks a genuine experience. One listensexcitedly to the hesitation and flow, andto procedures sometimes making achaotic effect. However, Mahnkopforganises this apparent chaos andnotates it in the greatest detail. His workas a composer during recent years is, hesays, not characterised by a centre, amidpoint on which everything that hap-pens is centripetally related. “Becausethere is no centre, there are no centrifu-gal forces either. Instead, I would muchrather speak of a topology. This termdesignates a partial area of mathematicswhich treats spatial forms extendingbeyond geometry. As opposed to geo-metrical figures, the space that my musicdefines cannot be fixed through axiomsand formulas. It is flexible, semi-morphic,non-linear, indeed non-constant.”

Current World Premieres of Works by Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf:

28.01.2011 Luxembourg„Hommage à Wolfram Schurig“, Luxemburg

13.03.2011 Salzburg « Petit Hommage à Thomas Tallis »Stadler Quartet, Salzburg Biennale Ensemble

(Also)Mathematics –


SIKORSKI magazine|7

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh NEWSMixed-Form CombiningRequiem and Symphony Symphony No. 8 for choir and orchestraby the Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer

received its world premiere on 11 Januaryperformed by the Polish Radio Symphony

Orchestra and Choir under the direction ofMichail Jurowski in Katowice. The idea of

composing a “Sinfonia da Requiem”arose through Meyer’s desire to dedicate a

symphonic work to anti-Semitism and thepersecution of the Jews. The general form

of the symphony emerged when Meyerbecame acquainted with the work of the

Polish poet Adam Zagajewski. He selectedfour poems from the many which deal with

this subject. The subject of the first poemis the massacre of the Jewish inhabitants

of the town of Jedwabny in Poland. Meyerdedicates the second poem, entitled

“Unwritten Elegy for Krakow Jews,” to thepart of town called Kazimierz in Krakow,which was principally inhabited by Jews

until the war. In the third poem, the poetZagaejwski remains us of the existing indif-

ference, this time for the children whowere murdered during the war and in the

last poem, Zagajewski refers toPersephone of antiquity who “goes under

the earth in a summer dress, with the largeeyes of a Jewish child

British Premiere ofWeinberg’s Opera

“The Portrait”

Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera “ThePortrait” received its first performance on

31 July during the course of the BregenzFestival. In the production by David

Pountney, the British premiere of thework will now be performed in English by

the Opera North Leeds on 2 February2011. At the centre of the opera’s plot

stands a young painter who struggles forhis place in art history no less than for hiseconomical existence. Through the acqui-

sition of an old picture, he suddenlyachieves boundless wealth from which heallows himself to be dazzled and corrup-

ted, so that he loses sight of his actualcalling. As so often with Gogol, from

whose literary oeuvre Dmitri Shostakovichalso selected the model for his grotesque

early opera “The Nose,” the obsessiondetermines the fate of the protagonist.

Current Premieres of Worksby Franghiz Ali-Zadeh:

30.01.2011 AmsterdamWorld Premiere of an Ensemble WorkNieuw Ensemble Amsterdam

20.-25.05.2011 Houston Grand OperaWorld Premiere of an Opera

As a pianist, Ali-Zadeh has been strong-ly committed to the works of contempo-rary composers of the former SovietUnion. Moreover, it is thanks to her ini-tiative that works of the SecondViennese School and composers such asOlivier Messiaen, John Cage andGeorge Crumb received their first per-formances in Baku.In her numerous works, the composerattempts to bridge the gap between theWestern avant-garde and the music ofher native Azerbaijan as well as otherregions of the Near East. A central workcycle of recent years is summarisedunder the comprehensive designation“Silk Road.”

ranghiz Ali-Zadeh was born inBaku/Azerbaijan. Trained as a

pianist and composer at the conservato-ry in her home city, she passed examina-tions in piano in 1970 and in composi-tion in 1972, following these with a peri-od as aspirant with Kara Karayev from1973 until 1976. In 1989 she receivedhere doctorate with the dissertation on“Orchestration in Works of AzerbaijaniComposers.” Starting in 1976 she taughtmusic history at the Baku Conservatorygeschichte and, as a professor, the sub-jects of contemporary music and the his-tory of orchestral styles from 1990onwards. From 1993 until 1996 sheserved as choral director at the operahouse in Mersin (Turkey) and then was alecturer for two years in piano and musictheory at the conservatory there. Ali-Zadeh worked in Baku again during theyears 1998 and 1999. Since then she hasprimarily lived in Germany.In 1980 Ali-Zadeh received the prize ofthe Azerbaijani Composers’ Union. In1990 she was awarded the title “Artist ofMerit” of the Azerbaijani Soviet SocialistRepublic. In November 2000 shereceived the honorary title “People’sArtist of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”Since 1989 she has been a member ofthe Schönberg Society in Los Angeles.

F

Not Only for Azerbaijan aReason to Celebrate:

Franghiz Ali-ZadehTurns 65

One of the most important composers of the present will celebrate

her 65th birthday on 28 May 2012.


franghiz ali-zadeh turns 65 - sikorski...khachaturian’s “gayaneh,” many cho-reographers tend...

Documents