Wolfgang Rihm is 70

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Der Komponist Wolfgang Rihm (Foto Markus Hechtle)
Foto Markus Hechtle
Concerts for Wolfgang Rihm at Karlsruhe University of Music

 

Friday · April 22, 2022
7.30 p.m. · Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum

Zum Geburtstag viel Stück! – Musik für Wolfgang Rihm

100 sounding gifts from former and current composition students and teachers, composed into a large collage by Nico Sauer and Vincent Wikström, presented by Innocent Sauerstrom.

Ensemble für Neue Musik der Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
conductorSusanne Blumenthal

[iNM Institut für Neue Musik]

15 € · 10 € (red.)
Tickets → Buy online (from March 25)

 

Saturday · April 23, 2022
7.30 p.m. · Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum

Silence to be beaten – Musik von Wolfgang Rihm

Konzert (1969) for piano and 8 instruments
Blick auf Kolchis (2002) for ensemble
Chiffre II (1983) "Silence to be beaten" for 14 playerrs
Concerto en Sol (2018) for Violoncello solo and chamber orchestra

Daria Vorontsova piano
Benedict Klöckner violoncello
Ensemble für Neue Musik der Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
conductor Ulrich Wagner

[iNM Institut für Neue Musik]

15 € · 10 € (red.)
Tickets → Buy online (from March 25)

 

Monday · Oct 17, 2022
11 a.m. · Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum

Matinee
mit music by Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Rihm

Tianwa Yang violin
Benedict Klöckner violoncello
Hartmut Höll piano

 

Monday · Oct 17, 2022
7.30 p.m. · Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum

Liederabend
Wolfgang Rihm "Ende der Handschrift" (11 späte Gedichte von Heiner Müller)
as well as Lieder by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann

Christoph Prégardien tenore
Hartmut Höll piano

 

Music by Wolfgang Rihm will also be heard in numerous other concerts at the Karlsruhe University of Music.

The competition of the Kulturfonds Baden e. V. is dedicated to the best interpretations of the works of Wolfgang Rihm and will take place at the beginning of November at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.

For March 13, 2022 

Wolfgang Rihm

The students and faculty of the Karlsruhe University of Music consider themselves fortunate to encounter such an extraordinary personality as Wolfgang Rihm. One of the most performed and authoritative composers of the present day, he allows us all to share in his richness of thought as well as his originality, experience and generosity. The former student of Eugen Werner Velte has for decades been a pioneering and formative, but never stylistically restrictive artistic personality. Thanks to his unwavering independence, his sheer universal education and cosmopolitanism, he opens up new horizons of music not only to his students but also to a broad audience, and in his music he negotiates existential questions of the human condition. Deeply impressed by his encounters with discourse-shaping composers of post-war modernism, among them Stockhausen, Nono and Boulez, Rihm found his own tone at a young age. As an emphatic composer in a tradition of expressive and formally elaborated music ranging from Beethoven to Brahms to Schönberg, Wolfgang Rihm combines the strong primary impulse with the exploratory search for what wants to become musical form instead of filling predetermined vessels.

His compositional work ranges from piano pieces and songs to chamber music, music theater and masses. In its entirety, it stands for the result of numerous balancing acts in which the moments of now and the underlying historical consciousness enter into a productive reciprocal relationship. This is especially true of the numerous solo concertos, in which Wolfgang Rihm incorporates the artistic physiognomy he perceives of important soloists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Jörg Widmann and Sol Gabetta into decisions specific to the work, without negating his own ideas of sound.

Wolfgang Rihm's immediately impressive aura and his linguistically powerful, flexible way of thinking make him a sought-after dialogue partner in seminars and discussion groups. He vehemently resists limiting attributions in order to adopt unexpected perspectives and to stand up for aesthetic plurality. His advice is sought by faculty and students alike. His word carries weight. Many graduates of his composition class have gone on to successful artistic careers and are today – like himself – present at numerous renowned festivals and platforms of contemporary music.

On his 70th birthday, we wish him all the best from the bottom of our hearts!

On behalf of the university management   On behalf of the university council

Hartmut Höll                                               Evelyn Meining
Rector                                                          Chairwoman