Program

Matthias Pintscher (*1971)

• Now I for solo piano
• Commissioned by LUCERNE FESTIVAL | world premiere

Christian Mason (*1984)

• Open to Infinity: a Grain of Sand for ensemble
• Commissioned by LUCERNE FESTIVAL and BBC Radio 3 | world premiere

Pierre Boulez (*1925)

• Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna for Orchestra in Eight Groups

Description

In 2015 Pierre Boulez is celebrating his 90th birthday! What better way to pay tribute than with music – new music, that is.

We will devote an entire day to key works of the man of the hour, as well as eight world premieres. Opening this marathon concert will be a pair of “birthday serenades” by Matthias Pintscher and Christian Mason, respectively.

Then the students of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY will join with their teachers from the Ensemble intercontemporain to perform Boulez’s Rituel, one of his most evocative scores. Playing in complete independence from one another, the orchestra groups are divided so as to suggest eight funeral processions for the composer’s late friend Bruno Maderna, the dedicatee of the work.

The conductor only indicates the entrances; elsewhere the musicians orient themselves by the regular pulse of the percussionists, who endow this “ceremony of remembrance” with its ritual character.