David Philip Hefti is Composer in Residence @ Zermatt Music Festival
Conductor and composer David Philip Hefti is Composer in Residence at this year's Zermatt Music Festival, where he will present his new octet Des Zaubers Spuren, commissioned by the festival for the Scharoun Ensemble, among other works. The festival was founded in 2005 by the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berliner Philhamoniker and built around an orchestral and chamber music academy.
"Already during my music studies, I often performed Schubert's Octet as a clarinetist. Since then, I have encountered it repeatedly and therefore I was delighted to be able to compose a new work for the 40th anniversary of the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin in my role as Composer in Residence at this year's Zermatt Music Festival. To base my new octet "Des Zaubers Spuren" on Schubert's masterpiece and to compose it for one of the best ensembles inspired me. I am looking forward to working on and premiering my octet with these gifted musicians at the foot of the Matterhorn", says David Philip Hefti.
As Composer in Residence, Hefti will be featured in various concert formats. In addition to rehearsing and conducting concerts with the Scharoun Ensemble and the Zermatt Festival Orchestra, as well as other concerts featuring works by Hefti, this will include work with the academy's musicians. On two concert evenings, the young musicians of the Zermatt Music Academy will perform Hefti's Gallicinium – music for the fourth nocturnal vigil for wind quintet and Monumentum – for string sextet.
On 27 September 2023, the German premiere of the commissioned work Des Zaubers Spuren will take place on the occasion of the Scharoun Ensemble's 40th anniversary concert at the Berlin Philharmonie.
Please find more information on David Philip Hefti and the concerts here.
12 September 2023, English Church
Academy Musicians 2023
David Philip Hefti: Gallicinium – music for the fourth nocturnal vigil for wind quintet
13 September 2023, St. Mauritius-Pfarrkirche
Academy Musicians 2023
David Philip Hefti: Monumentum – for string sextet
15 September 2023, St. Mauritius-Pfarrkirche (including Pre-Concert Talk)
Scharoun Ensemble Berlin
Zermatt Festival Orchestra
David Philip Hefti, conductor
Christiane Karg, soprano – Wolfram Brandl, violin/concert master – Jonathan Kelly, oboe
Bach: Concerto for oboe and violin in c Minor BWV 1060
David Philip Hefti: Des Zaubers Spuren (2023), World premiere commissioned by the festival for the Scharoun Ensemble
Alban Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder (arranged by Reinbert de Leeuw)
Schubert : Symphony no. 4 in c Minor, D. 417 „Tragic“
16 September 2023, St. Mauritius-Pfarrkirche
David Philip Hefti, conductor
Zermatt Festival Orchestra
Christiane Karg, soprano
Mozart: Così fan tutte (arranged for wind octet by Andreas N. Tarkmann)
Berlioz: Les Nuits d’été, Op. 7
Strauss: Metamorphosen für 23 Solostreicher
17 September 2023, Kapelle Riffelalp
Scharoun Ensemble Berlin
Christiane Karg, soprano
Academy Musicians 2023
Beethoven: Oktett for winds in Es-Dur, Op. 103
David Philip Hefti: Fünf Szenen für Gustav – string quartet no. 6
Mahler: Rückert-Lieder for voice and string quartet (arranged by David Philip Hefti) read more less
Two world premieres by David Philip Hefti with the Berliner Barock Solisten
On 30 June 2023, Kammerkonzerte Laufen will premiere two works by composer and conductor David Philip Hefti: Fünf Concertini – for string orchestra and Vier Momente – for flute and string orchestra. Fünf Concertini is dedicated to the Berliner Barock Solisten and, with five micro-concerts for the five principals of a string orchestra, is also a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi. Vier Momente was commissioned by flutist Philipp Jundt and is a reference to Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2.
30. June 2023, Kammerkonzerte Laufen
Berliner Barock Solisten – Philipp Jundt, flute
Willi Zimmermann, violin & conductor
David Philip Hefti, conductor
C. P. E. Bach: Concerto for flute, strings and basso continuo in D minor (Wq 22)
cadenzas and interludes between the movements by David Philip Hefti
1. allegro
2. un poco andante
3. Allegro di molto
D. P. Hefti: Fünf Concertini – for string orchestra (world premiere)
1. blendend (violin solo)
2. ätherisch (double bass solo)
3. samtig (viola solo)
4. bittersüss (violin solo)
5. rauschend (violoncello solo)
J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor (BWV 1067)
alternating with
D. P. Hefti: Vier Momente – for flute and string orchestra (world premiere)
1. Orchestersuite, 1. Ouverture
2. Vier Momente, 1. verspielt
3. Orchestersuite, 2. Rondeau
4. Orchestersuite, 3. Sarabande
5. Vier Momente, 2. verrückt
6. Orchestersuite, 4. Bourrée I & II
7. Vier Momente, 3. verborgen
8. Orchestersuite, 5. Polonaise
9. Vier Momente, 4. verklärt
10. Orchestersuite, 6. Menuett
11. Orchestersuite, 7. Badinerie read more less
Premiere of David Philip Hefti's ballet music Ans Ende der Zeit
On May 24, 2023, the premiere of the ballet production Death and the Maiden will take place at the Graz Opera. In two parts, the ballet evening musically and choreographically combines Hefti's commissioned work Ans Ende der Zeit with Franz Schubert's famous string quartet Death and the Maiden. The ballet of the Graz Opera dances in a choreography by ballet director Beate Vollack. The music will be performed by the PhilQuartett of the Graz Philharmonic. There are further performances on May 31, June 15 and June 17, 2023.
Further information about the work including an interview can be found here.
Details and tickets here. read more less
David Philip Hefti wins the Composer Award of the ICMA
Composer and conductor David Philip Hefti will be honored with the Composer Award of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in April 2023, and it is precisely the diversity of his works that is the focus. "Hefti's tonal language captivates with an enormously wide spectrum of expressive means. Luminous timbres and dramatic constructions are as much a part of it as subtle and fragile sonic developments. The spectrum of genres in which the composer expresses himself is also wide, with the result that his music reaches performers as well as a broad audience." said jury president Remy Franck.
For Hefti, "it is an honor to be given this year's ICMA Composer Award. After the Corona years of artistic starvation, I'm grateful to ICMA's distinguished jury for their tireless work in showing us a hopeful perspective through pre-pandemic diversity and abundance, which is important in every sense, especially today." The award ceremony at the National Forum for Music in Wroclaw will include Hefti's work con moto - Beziehungsweisen für Orchester, commissioned in 2014 by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and its principal conductor Jonathan Nott. For the composer, this work in particular is very appropriate, since "the title should be understood as a desire to get cultural life moving again." More information on the work and a short audio preview can be found here.
The 2022/23 season saw the world premiere of Hefti's Rhapsody for baritone and orchestra, a work based on texts by Sir Salman Rushdie and featuring soloist Benjamin Appl and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn under Case Scaglione. On 4 February at 8:03 p.m. CET, the work can be listened to at the SWR2 evening concert. Furthermore, the world premiere of the saxophone quartet Harmonia with the Kebyart Ensemble at the Tonhalle Zurich on 6 February (further performance on 23 March at the Casino Basel) and the world premiere of the Fünf Concerti for String Orchestra with the Berlin Baroque Soloists at the Kammerkonzerte Laufen on 30 June, after which a CD recording is taking place, will follow this season. In addition, Hefti's Danse interstellaire, funeral music for basset clarinet and string quartet, will be performed with the Merel Quartet in Lucerne (1 Feb), Zurich (2 Feb) and Triesen (3 Feb).
More information on David Philip Hefti's works as well as concerts can be found at hefti.net read more less
