Selected forthcoming performances Duet
George Benjamin
20 & 21.9.11, Kiel & Berlin, Germany: Junge Deutsche Philharmonie/Lothar Zagrosek/ Martin Helmchen
Once again Benjamin has collaborated with playwright Martin Crimp, with whom he created Into the Little Hill. It was said at the time that the two formed an especially close artistic partnership and if their first project is anything to go by, this latest opera will be equally special. The pair share a strong creative connection, as Benjamin once mentioned in a Guardian interview:
3, 4 & 5.11.11, Washington, DC, USA: Peter Serkin/National Orchestra/Oliver Knussen/Peter Serkin
Dance Figures
9 & 10.10.11, Auftakt, Frankfurt, Germany: Frankfurter Museumorchester/Sebastian Weigle
A Mind of Winter 25.9.11, MUSICA, Cité de la musique et de la danse, Strasbourg, France: Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/ Jean Deroyer 16.11.11, Theatre des Champs d’Elysees, Paris, France: Ensemble Orchestra de Paris/ Douglas Boyd/Lisa Larsson
Into the Little Hill 19 & 20.11.11, Clare College Chapel, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University New Music Ensemble/William Cole
(Hungarian premiere) 5.12.11 Budapest, Umze Ensemble
Fantasia VII
10.3.12, Winterthur, Switzerland: Winterthur Musikkollegium/ Douglas Boyd
Shadowlines
5.4.12, Kaplan Penthouse, Lincoln Centre, New York, USA: Gilles Vonsattel
Antara
12.4.12, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Asko/ Schönberg/Etienne Siebens/ Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Palimpsests
27.4.12, Hamburg, Germany: NDR Sinfonieorchester/Pablo Heras-Casado
RPS award In May George Benjamin was awarded honorary membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society, one of the highest accolades in music. The RPS described him as “a consummate musician who enriches our lives” and highlighted the “virtuosity, integrity, care and consideration he brings to everything he does, whether as a pianist, teacher, spellbinding speaker, programmer or internationally acclaimed conductor”. Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society is given in recognition of outstanding services to music and has been awarded fewer than 130 times. Benjamin joins an illustrious list of Honorary Members that include Rossini (1839), Brahms (1882), Clara Schumann (1887), Stravinsky (1921) and Aaron Copland (1970). The RPS praised Benjamin’s long and acclaimed career:
‘It is now 30 years since the 20 year-old George Benjamin blazed in to public view with a performance of his Ringed by the Flat Horizon at the BBC Proms. Since then he has won over audiences worldwide with his finely crafted and uncannily beautiful, expressive music. He is a consummate musician and enriches our lives. The Royal Philharmonic Society is proud to make George Benjamin an Honorary Member.’
‘He is a consumate musician and enriches our lives.’ New opera ‘Written on Skin’ Following the enormous success of George Benjamin’s first opera Into the Little Hill (2006), the musical world has been waiting with baited breath for his next operatic creation. Much secrecy has surrounded the new work, on which the composer has been hard at work, but the title can now be revealed as Written on Skin. 14 PHOTO: george benjamin © Simon jay price
“There’s a ‘eureka!’ moment in the compositional process,” Benjamin says, when he knows that every note is in the right place and, suddenly, he has a piece. Crimp has expressed a similar view; he says he sees his plays (which include 1997’s Attempts On Her Life, a series of violent, abstract scenes including images of rape and disembowelment) as “a kind of filter: you pass life through it, and maybe the unpalatable things are what are left behind, but they have to make beautiful shapes”. For Crimp, it’s the form that matters - just as for Benjamin, there’s an abstract alchemy in the combinations of notes in his music.’ The Guardian (Tom Service), 12 February 2009
Written on Skin will premiered at the Aix en Provence Festival in July 2012, and will tour to no less than six other prestigious opera houses. The production will feature Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Bejun Mehta (countertenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Victoria Simmonds (mezzo-soprano) and Alan Clayton (tenor), and the director will be Katie Mitchell. At the premiere the Mahler Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by the composer.
‘Written on Skin’ performances