Wolfgang Holzmair - Song Premieres and Commissions

Song Premieres and Commissions

Premieres since 2000 include Kurt Schwertsik's Die Welt eine Laute and Fioretti per San Francesco, a chamber version of Hans Werner Henze's Five Neapolitan Songs with the Nash Ensemble (as part of a 75th birthday tribute to the composer), Dmitry Smirnov's Eternal Refuge with the Altenburg Trio Wien (recorded by Austrian Radio), Daniel Schnyder's one-act opera Mozart and Casanova (at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad), Helmut Schmidinger's solo cantata Mozart Briefe (with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, as part of Mozart's 250th), and David Matthews' arrangements of Brahms' lieder and of part of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang (commissioned by the Nash Ensemble); recent additions are Schmidinger's Wo der Bartl den Most holt and the Austrian premiere of Lori Laitman's Seed of Dreams. HIs Erich Zeisl disc marking the composer's 100th anniversary included unpublished songs, and he contributed to a recording of new settings of Eduard Mörike's poetry commissioned by the Hugo Wolf Instititute of Stuttgart, to celebrate the poet's 200th birthday. Holzmair has commissioned David Leisner to compose a new piece for baritone and string quartet and the resulting work, A Timeless Procession, will be premiered in a future season.