Awards
Edition·S is once again the proud publisher behind several composers and works that have received acknowledgements and awards in 2023. Bára Gísladóttir was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards for her work Animals of your pasture. Conductor and artistic director Paul Hillier received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Honorary Award. Christian Winther Christensen's Children's Songs won the Carl Prize 2023 in the category 'Classical composer - small ensemble'. Line Tjørnhøj's ØR was selected as the Danish contribution to the International Rostrum of Composers and Matias Vestergård's Lisbon Floor won the very prestigious Reumert Award as Opera of the Year.
New initiatives
New initiatives and projects include a new collaboration with composer Frej Wedlund and a new agreement to publish and distribute vocal works by Johann Johannson. Two new sub-editions add new colours to the Edition·S palette: Monuments - a publishing series dedicated to choral music from the Renaissance and Early Baroque, initiated by Musica Ficta Copenhagen and launched with the publication of Mogens Pedersøn's Pratum Spirituale. The Danish Classical Music Edition was initiated with the first volume of Tekla Griebel Wandall's Collected Songs.
Selected World Premieres
In January, Quatuor Bozzini premiered Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard's combined string- and harmonica quartet Colliding Bubbles (surface tension and release) which a reviewer described as "a galaxy of sound".
Steingrímur Rohloff's Dobbelgängerkonzert was premiered by Odense Symphony Orchestra with the violists Rafaell Altino and Lawrence Power where a reviewer said: The audience is excited by Rohloff's Odensean cowboy duel and this playful banter is truly enjoyable."
In March, Mads Emil Dreyer's Figure 2 was premiered by Sistro Duo in Copenhagen, and Ensemble Resilience premiered his Miniature 5 in The Hague.
April brought the world premieres of Martin Stauning's Irrenschein, Ejnar Kanding's Slender Trees and Jexper Holmen's TRIO 3. Odense Symphony Orchestra premiered Mette Nielsen's Bevægelser resulting in a quote from a reviewer stating that "A new Nielsen in Danish symphonic music has been born," and calling the experience nothing less than "a small revelation."
Ensemble Pluma premiered Line Tjørnhøj's HIMMEL, featuring fragmented existential poetry and a headbanging soprano. Bara Gísladóttir's COR was premiered by WDR Symphony Orchestra letting a multitude of meanings and textures melt together in a dark unity complete with an improvised climax and growling musicians.
In May, Steingrímur Rohloff's War Requiem was premiered by Odense Symphony Orchestra. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra premiered Li-Ying Wu's Flamboyer with Twincussion as soloists and a critic described it as "glittering, ever-changing robes hung on a ticking skeleton of a musical machine." Jeppe Ernst's silent work Nocturnes (for a human body) was premiered by Kalle Hakosalo and Erica Giacoletto. Hans-Henrik Nordstrøm's R - a poem by Morten Nielsen was premiered at a concert dedicated to the late Danish poet, and Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen's Kærlighedens Højsang based on the Bible's The Hymn of Love was premiered by the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir
KLANG festival in June featured world premieres by Jexper Holmen, Simon Løffler, Greta Eacott, Ylva Lund Bergner and Lars Kynde as well as the movie premiere of Lasse Schwanenflügel Piasecki's operetta movie Vil du med til Janus?
Matias Vestergård was composer in residence at Festival&Friends with a number of performances including the world premiere of the song cycle KRISER. Steingrímur Rohloff was composer in residence at the Båstad chamber music festival with several performances including the world premiere of his piece The Copenhagen Disorder written for the Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble.
In July, Mads Emil Dreyer's Apparitions was performed by Mads Emil Dreyer at a series of staged family concerts called A Song of Salt and Water.
In August, the first complete live performance of Simon Christensen's Chamber Cinema Set was presented in Copenhagen and Bára Gísladóttir's RÓL (og gól (roll and goal)) was premiered in Darmstadt.
September saw the world premiere of Simon Steen-Andersen's opera Don Giovanni's Inferno. Following the first performance at Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg the critic of ForumOpéra wrote: "Rush for the last available seats because this is just one Hell of a show!" and another reviewer labelled it as "diabolically delicious".
In Copenhagen the Danish National Vocal Ensemble premiered Else Marie Pade's choral work Völo-spa hoc est composed in 1956. Better late than never.
In October, Ejnar Kanding's string quartet Angstallein was premiered by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, and new pieces by Simon Christensen and Jexper Holmen were premiered at David Hildebrandt's "extremely extreme" percussion tour as one reviewer called it.
In November, three Miniature pieces by Mads Emil Dreyer were performed in the Baroque exhibition at the Danish National Gallery. November also brought the premiere of Matias Vestergård's PARHELION commissioned for the 575 anniversary of The Royal Danish Orchestra. MINU festival presented a new piece by James Black, Nya Låtar, equal parts office comedy, new music, horror B-movie, performance art, and cabaret, performed by NJYD. At the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Riot Ensemble premiered Bára Gísladóttir's The moon is an eye is a pond and so on and so forth.
In December, K!ART ensemble sparked the Christmas Spirits with a concert featuring world premieres by Jexper Holmen and Mads Emil Dreyer, and the Danish National Vocal Ensemble premiered Bára Gísladóttir's NAT together with the composer herself as double bass soloist.
We are looking forward to sharing even more music with everyone in 2024.