From 28 March to 18 April 2025, the 32nd Dresden Days of Contemporary Music will take place at HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts and other venues in Dresden. Since its foundation in 1987 by the composer Udo Zimmermann, the festival has established itself as an internationally significant platform for current developments in new music, exciting experiments and surprising interdisciplinary constellations.
At the opening of the festival, the Ensemble Modern will present "TILDE [~]", a project by the composer Anda Kryeziu, born in Kosovo in 1993. Based on the archives of the Ensemble Modern, Kosovan composer Anda Kryeziu explored the topic of archiving as an artistic practice and collective memory in the digital age. The result is a unique immersive format for ensemble, light, video and objects, in which the audience is invited to immerse themselves in the performative space (Fri 28 March, 20:00).
The Landesjugendensemble Neueste Musik Sachsen rehearses under the direction of flutist and conductor Elizaveta Birjukova and with mentors from Ensemble Modern at the Festspielhaus and brings contemporary works to life with a joy of experimentation (Sun 30 March, 18:00).
The Trickster Orchestra, which was recently included in the "Excellent Orchestra Landscape Germany", presents exciting border areas between written and spoken score together with the New York composer George Lewis. In "spoken scores", composition and interpretation merge into a new, lively cosmos of sound (Fri 4 April, 20:00).
In the dance and sound performance "MOVING EASTMAN", singer Elaine Mitchener and choreographer and director Dam Van Huynh explore the life of the black American composer Julius Eastman. Eastman was a highly talented pianist and composer who belonged to the American avant-garde elite in the 1970s, but died homeless and largely forgotten in 1990 at the age of just 49. The performance is based on found materials such as images, notes, interviews and sounds (Tue 8 April, 20:00).
The programme of the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen concert entitled "Zerrissene Musik" includes the world premieres of "Drittes Gesang" and an epilogue by Dresden composer Wilfried Krätzschmar. Two Dresden premieres will also be performed. Composer Lauren Siess, born in the USA in 1996, will perform "fermented wax, implosive sacks stain !owers" for orchestra. Composer Aida Shirazi, who was born in Iran in 1987 and lives in New York, will be presented with a cello concerto that also premiered in 2024. The concert will be conducted by Ekkehard Klemm (Fri 11.04., 20:00).
The Ensemble intercontemporain, once founded by Pierre Boulez and today one of the most important international ensembles for contemporary music, is honouring Boulez on his 100th birthday. Soloists from the ensemble will present a selection of his solo works for piano, clarinet or violin. The works cover a large part of Boulez's oeuvre and lead into his unique musical world of imagination (Thu 17 April, 20:00).
At the end of the festival, the extraordinary film-concert project "Gerhard Richter: MOVING PICTURES" will be presented in the Great Hall of the Festspielhaus Hellerau, which makes it possible to experience the visual worlds of Gerhard Richter in a fascinating combination with the compositions of Steve Reich, Rebecca Saunders and the Ensemble Musikfabrik (Fri 18.
The Dresden Days of Contemporary Music can also be experienced in other Dresden institutions.
The festive event and panel discussion to mark the 20th anniversary of the German Composers' Archive will take place at the University of Church Music, addressing the fundamental problems of housing composers' estates. It will be musically framed by El Perroz Andaluz (Fri 11 April, 17:00).
In the Zentralwerk, the ensemble "OUTERNATIONAL" will tell the story of music as an eternal history of migration under the title "Isles & Rivers" (Tue 15 April, 20:00).
The Opera Class of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden will perform the 1967 version of Udo Zimmermann's opera "The White Rose" in the Kleines Haus. The opera was premiered in 1967 by the opera class of the time and has not been heard in this version since (Sat 12 Apr, 19:30 & Sun 13 Apr, 19:00).
And in the current exhibition of the Archiv der Avantgarden, the AuditivVokal Dresden ensemble will be performing several short contemporary musical interventions under the title "(Meta)Moderne Zeiten" (Sun 13 April, 11:00 - 18:00).
At the opening of the festival, the Ensemble Modern will present "TILDE [~]", a project by the composer Anda Kryeziu, born in Kosovo in 1993. Based on the archives of the Ensemble Modern, Kosovan composer Anda Kryeziu explored the topic of archiving as an artistic practice and collective memory in the digital age. The result is a unique immersive format for ensemble, light, video and objects, in which the audience is invited to immerse themselves in the performative space (Fri 28 March, 20:00).
The Landesjugendensemble Neueste Musik Sachsen rehearses under the direction of flutist and conductor Elizaveta Birjukova and with mentors from Ensemble Modern at the Festspielhaus and brings contemporary works to life with a joy of experimentation (Sun 30 March, 18:00).
The Trickster Orchestra, which was recently included in the "Excellent Orchestra Landscape Germany", presents exciting border areas between written and spoken score together with the New York composer George Lewis. In "spoken scores", composition and interpretation merge into a new, lively cosmos of sound (Fri 4 April, 20:00).
In the dance and sound performance "MOVING EASTMAN", singer Elaine Mitchener and choreographer and director Dam Van Huynh explore the life of the black American composer Julius Eastman. Eastman was a highly talented pianist and composer who belonged to the American avant-garde elite in the 1970s, but died homeless and largely forgotten in 1990 at the age of just 49. The performance is based on found materials such as images, notes, interviews and sounds (Tue 8 April, 20:00).
The programme of the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen concert entitled "Zerrissene Musik" includes the world premieres of "Drittes Gesang" and an epilogue by Dresden composer Wilfried Krätzschmar. Two Dresden premieres will also be performed. Composer Lauren Siess, born in the USA in 1996, will perform "fermented wax, implosive sacks stain !owers" for orchestra. Composer Aida Shirazi, who was born in Iran in 1987 and lives in New York, will be presented with a cello concerto that also premiered in 2024. The concert will be conducted by Ekkehard Klemm (Fri 11.04., 20:00).
The Ensemble intercontemporain, once founded by Pierre Boulez and today one of the most important international ensembles for contemporary music, is honouring Boulez on his 100th birthday. Soloists from the ensemble will present a selection of his solo works for piano, clarinet or violin. The works cover a large part of Boulez's oeuvre and lead into his unique musical world of imagination (Thu 17 April, 20:00).
At the end of the festival, the extraordinary film-concert project "Gerhard Richter: MOVING PICTURES" will be presented in the Great Hall of the Festspielhaus Hellerau, which makes it possible to experience the visual worlds of Gerhard Richter in a fascinating combination with the compositions of Steve Reich, Rebecca Saunders and the Ensemble Musikfabrik (Fri 18.
The Dresden Days of Contemporary Music can also be experienced in other Dresden institutions.
The festive event and panel discussion to mark the 20th anniversary of the German Composers' Archive will take place at the University of Church Music, addressing the fundamental problems of housing composers' estates. It will be musically framed by El Perroz Andaluz (Fri 11 April, 17:00).
In the Zentralwerk, the ensemble "OUTERNATIONAL" will tell the story of music as an eternal history of migration under the title "Isles & Rivers" (Tue 15 April, 20:00).
The Opera Class of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden will perform the 1967 version of Udo Zimmermann's opera "The White Rose" in the Kleines Haus. The opera was premiered in 1967 by the opera class of the time and has not been heard in this version since (Sat 12 Apr, 19:30 & Sun 13 Apr, 19:00).
And in the current exhibition of the Archiv der Avantgarden, the AuditivVokal Dresden ensemble will be performing several short contemporary musical interventions under the title "(Meta)Moderne Zeiten" (Sun 13 April, 11:00 - 18:00).
