Composition Commission issued to Mark Anthony Turnage

Menuhin Festival, Gstaad, Switzerland

The Menuhin Festival, Gstaad regularly issues composition commissions. With its about 20,000 visitors and some 45 concerts it is one of the largest music festivals in German-speaking Switzerland. Jointly with the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in 2015 a commission is to be issued to the Briton Anthony Turnage which will be supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The work will be premiered in August with the soloists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta under the baton of Kristjan Järvi. Born in 1960 the composer says the following about his new work:

“Dialogue is a lyrical double concerto for violin and cello soloists accompanied by strings and percussion. The overall feeling is simple and light with rhythms close to folk music. The opening pair of movements are fairly short, the first being an argument between the two soloists while the second is a poignant love duet. The last movement is a set of variations which is more expansive in scope and lasts as long as the first two movements combined. The language is at times tonal with each variation moving in different key areas working up to an emphatic climax and concluding with a very lyrical coda.”

 

August 15, 2015
Gstaad

August 19, 2015
Schleswig Holstein Festival, Lübeck

August 20, 2015
Schleswig Holstein Festival

August 21, 2015
MDR Musikfestival, Leipzig

October 3/4, 2015
Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and Stuttgart

 

Further Information:
www.menuhinfestivalgstaad.ch
www.gstaadacademy.ch