Johannes Maria Staud's a cappella work Der Gesang der Weiden and Christian Mason's composition The Oddity Effect for choir and ensemble will be premiered at a concert with the Ensemble Modern and the SWR Vokalensemble under the direction of Ustina Dubitsky in Frankfurt on 16 May and will subsequently be performed in Stuttgart; The Oddity Effect can also be heard at the ACHT BRÜCKEN festival in Cologne on 18 May.

Based on a text by Paul Griffiths, Christian Mason's new work The Oddity Effect deals with the fascinatingly homogeneous yet unpredictable movements of schools of fish. Following performances at the Alte Oper Frankfurt (16 May) and the Theaterhaus Stuttgart (17 May), the work will also be performed at the ACHT BRÜCKEN festival in Cologne on 18 May. The concert in Cologne will be recorded by WDR and can be heard on the radio on 12 June 2025 and afterwards for 30 days on wdr3.de.

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© Irmeli Jung

In 2019, Wergo released a portrait CD including Anssi Karttunen’s recordings of Hans Werner Henze’s English Love Songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Oliver Knussen.

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