The CD recording “Changesments” with works by David Philip Hefti is now also available digitally on Spotify! The recording is a collaboration of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and col legno and was released in 2013. For more information on the recording, please also see the booklet here.
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.
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; more information about the work can be found here. Vier Momente was commissioned by flutist Philipp Jundt and is a reference to Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2, more information about the work can be found here.
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
3rd Allegro di molto
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 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
On 24 May, the ballet production “Der Tod und das Mädchen” will celebrate its premiere at Graz Opera. Musically and choreographically, the production combines Hefti’s commissioned work „Ans Ende der Zeit“ with Franz Schubert’s famous string quartet “Der Tod und das Mädchen“. The ballet of the Graz Opera dances in a choreography by ballet director Beate Vollack and is accompanied by the PhilQuartett of the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra. Further performances on 31 May, 15 and 17 June 2023.
More information about the work here.
Premieres, new productions, awards and special concert programs – below you will find an overview of what our artists will be featuring on international concert stages in the coming months.
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
Composer and conductor Philip Hefti has been nominated for the OPUS Klassik for his new CD “Light and Shade” (NEOS 2021) in five categories: Composer of the Year (05), Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year (08), Chamber Music Recording (12), World Premiere Recording (17) and New Classical Music (24).
More information can be found here:
In May 2021 the Amaryllis Quartet played David Philip Hefti’s String Quartet No. 4 “con fuoco” at the Putbus Festival in the Putbus Theater. More information about the work can be found here: hefti.net/de/werke/
AMARYLLIS QUARTETT
Gustav Frielinghaus – violin, Lena Sandoz – violin, Mareike Hefti – viola, Yves Sandoz – cello
In April 2022 David Philip Hefti’s Fünf Szenen für Gustav – String Quartet No. 6 and his arrangement of the Rückert Lieder by Gustav Mahler (soprano: Juliane Banse) will be heard with the Amaryllis Quartet in Bremen, Lübeck and Hamburg. In the Kölner Philharmonie, Neues Werk for viola and string orchestra, a composition commissioned by Camerata Zürich and Kölner Philharmonie, will be premiered with Lawrence Power.
In 2021, Patricia Kopatchinskaja invited composer David Philip Hefti to be CAMERATA BERN’s Composer-in-Residence and conducted as well as performed the world premiere of his work Sechs Klanginseln – for violin, clarinet and string orchestra in Bern. The concert program combines Hefti’s music with works by Schubert, Bartok and Schönberg, among others, and can be listened to here.
David Philip Hefti’s work The Snow Queen nominated for the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) in the Contemporary category. The recording was released in 2020 by NEOS 12028 and premiered in November 2018 at the Tonhalle Maag Zurich:
The Snow Queen – a story in music for soprano, 2 speakers and orchestra
Mojca Erdmann, Soprano
Delia Mayer, Narrator
Max Simonischek, Narrator
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
David Philip Hefti, Conductor
Please find more information about the ICMAs here.