This autumn Thomas Adès begins two years as composer-in-residence at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The focus opens with a performance of In Seven Days for piano and orchestra on 14 September, conducted by Andris Nelsons with Kirill Gerstein as soloist.
On 28 and 29 September Adès will conduct the German premieres of Tower and Märchentänze – four ‘Dances from Fairytale’ with Pekka Kuusisto. Kuusisto premiered Märchentänze in 2021 and subsequently recorded with Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Tower (2021) was written for the opening of a new artistic hub in Arles designed by Frank Gehry. The 2½-minute fanfare is scored for 14 trumpets, the same number used in Janáček's Sinfonietta, which concludes the programme. Tower and Märchentänze also appear in the inaugural concert of Adès’ two-season residency with the Hallé orchestra on 28 October.
On 16 May 2024 Anne-Sophie Mutter joins Andris Nelsons and the orchestra for the German premiere of Air – Homage to Sibelius, which she premiered at the 2022 Lucerne Festival with the composer conducting. The 15-minute piece is an inverted chaconne, led by a suspended violin line, spiralling upwards as the work unfolds. Adès himself conducts the UK premiere of Air with the London Symphony Orchestra and Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Barbican on 30 May 2024.
The residency also includes a series of chamber concerts. On 1 October Adès gives a recital with Kuusisto that includes the composer’s Mazurkas (2009) and 2022 Suite from ‘The Tempest’ for violin and piano, as well as piano music by Leoš Janáček. On 19 November the Eliot Quartet perform Adès’ The Four Quarters (2010). Adès performs his Piano Quintet (2000) with the Gewandhaus-Quartett on 19 May 2024.
Previous appearances of Adès’ music at the Gewandhaus include the European premiere of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in April 2019 from Gerstein and Adès. In 2017 Anthony Marwood joined the orchestra for Adès’ Violin Concerto (2005), conducted by Andrew Manze. The orchestra has also previously performed Adès’ Asyla (1997) with conductor David Zinman in 2012 and 2013.