Composition Commission to Stefan Wirth

Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich, Switzerland

In the 2008/2009 season the orchestra Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the literary institution Literaturhaus Museumsgesellschaft Zürich embarked upon a fruitful cooperation. Under the heading “Wahlverwandtschaften – Literatur und Musik” these two Zurich cultural institutions developed a series of events focusing on the creative synergies between literature and music.Works of literature and chamber music are performed here that were originally inspired by another specific piece of work (one example of many: Tolstoy’s story “Kreutzer Sonata” on the effect of  Beethoven’s eponymous violin sonata or, subsequently, Janacek’s quartet “Kreutzer Sonata” as a treatment of Tolstoy’s story). 
These events make it possible to experience and hear the direct link between literature and composition. The series comprises 4 events per season. Musicians from the Tonhalle Orchestra will perform works while an actor will read the literary texts. With contemporary works the authors will generally read their texts themselves and a literary scholar or musicologist will introduce the links between the musical and literary works in a short lecture. In a composition commission supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Stefan Wirth will also react to the extraordinary pieces of prose by the deceased author Aglaja Veteranyi in compositional terms. 

April 6, 2014
Tonhalle Kleiner Saal, Zürich, Switzerland

Further Information:
www.tonhalle-orchester.ch