This month, the Cleveland Orchestra, which gave the US premiere of Hans Abrahamsen's Grawemeyer Award-winning let me tell you (2013), opens its season with another US premiere: his piano concerto for the left hand, Left, alone (2015). Franz Welser-Möst and the orchestra join pianist Alexandre Tharaud.
September 20-22 2018 | Severance Hall, Cleveland, OH
The Bavarian State Orchestra premieres 'Drei Märchenbilder aus der Schneekönigin'
The new orchestral work Drei Märchenbilder aus der Schneekönigin (2018) is a harbinger of Abrahamsen's upcoming opera The Snow Queen (2019). The Bavarian State Orchestra commissioned the piece, and will give the world premiere under the baton of Constantinos Carydis.
'let me tell you' on tour
The performance history of Abrahamsen's song cycle let me tell you is one of the most successful in recent contemporary music. This season, the award-winning piece will be sung by Barbara Hannigan with different orchestras at several venues in Europe.
The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrůša will bring it to Dresden, Köln, and Dortmund.
October 25 2018 | Kulturpalast, DresdenOctober 28 | Philharmonie, Köln
October 30 | Konzerthaus, Dortmund
At the beginning of 2019, Hannigan performs let me tell you with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding and the Orchestre de Paris.
January 10, 2019 | Barbican Hall, LondonFebruary 27 & 28 | Philharmonie, Paris
'Schnee' in the US
Already considered one of the twenty-first century's masterworks for large ensemble, Abrahamsen's Schnee (2008) was heard at this summer's Ojai Music Festival with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tito Muñoz, and is upcoming with the Seattle Symphony this fall under the baton of Music Director Designate Thomas Dausgaard.
October 12 | Benaroya Hall, Seattle. WA
Léonie Sonning Prize 2019
Abrahamsen will receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2019 at a concert to be held on April 26 2019. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Michael Schønwandt will present Left, alone with Tamara Stefanovich, piano; let me tell you with Barbara Hannigan, soprano; and Debussy/Abrahamsen: Children's corner (2011). The prize concert is part of a festival with music by Abrahamsen at concerts in Copenhagen and Aarhus.
Season Highlights in 2019-20
Abrahamsen's new opera, The Snow Queen, will be presented in two different productions: the world premiere will take place at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen followed by the German premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Later this season, the Berlin Philharmonic and soloist Stefan Dohr will debut Abrahamsen's Horn Concerto (2019), a joint commission of the Berlin Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Zaterdag Matinee, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
