workshop concert with the Ensemble Modern
The second evening in the Happy New Ears series this season is dedicated to an extraordinary character who has always been very involved in music life in Hessen and, in particular, with the Ensemble Modern, and the founding of it in 1980: This talk/concert is to celebrate his 80th birthday. This composer and conductor was born in Wiesbaden in 1936 and taught composition at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt from 1988 - 2000. He was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize and Goethe Prize in 1997 and Hessen's Culture Prize in 2002. He was also partly responsible for the coming into being of the Ensemble Modern and Happy New Ears events. The Ensemble Modern performed many of his works' world premieres. Hans Zender's work as an interpreter – he held many leading posts during his career, including those of GMD of the Hamburg State Opera and the SWR-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg – is closely tied to his creative output. In 2011/12 he was commissioned by the Ensemble Modern, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt to compose an interpretation of Beethoven's »Diabelli-Variations« - this resulted in workshop concerts in which his versions of 33 variations can be heard. The conductor Johannes Kalitzke will talk to Hans Zender about this work and many other things.
HANS ZENDER
conductor Johannes Kalitzke
Monday December 12th 2016
