The theme at this year’s festival is ‘childhood’, with many projects aimed specifically at the younger generation. This includes Schraffur by festival composer-in-residence Fritz Hauser. It will include 300 participate of all ages and draw upon the childlike practice of cross-hatch sketching.
Other works will take up themes of children and childhood. Sir Simon Rattle will conduct Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and there will be works that have a background related to music education, such as Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. A prominent role will also be given to fairy-tale-related material and there will be attempts to understand the psyches of composers such as Mozart and Bruckner, who did not adapt to the rules of adulthood. The festival will also take up the phenomenon of “child prodigies.”
There is a strong streak of new and recently written music throughout the programme. Highlights include the world premiere of Fritz Hauser’s Rundum for large ensemble on 25th; György Kurtág’s Stele for large orchestra on 26th; the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’s Reading Malevich on 1st September; and a sequence of seven Stockhausen events, including the Swiss premiere of his INORI on 2nd September and a performance GRUPPEN on 9th September conducted by Simon Rattle, Matthias Pintscher and Duncan Ward. Throughout the festival it will also be possible to see Wolfgang Rihm working with youngsters on the Composer Seminar project.