Schönberg24 - Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung - Preußischer Kulturbesitz

"Schönberg is dead", composer and conductor Pierre Boulez proclaimed in 1951. Despite such prophecies of doom, Schönberg's compositional and theoretical work continues to attract a great deal of attention from performers, contemporary composers, and audiences alike.

In three series of events, we attempt to approach Schönberg's relevance today from different perspectives:

1. In a masterclass on piano and piano chamber music of the Second Viennese School with pianist and composer Steffen Schleiermacher and students from Berlin's music academies (the results of which will be presented in a concert),
2. In a workshop on the edition of Schönberg’s Five Piano Pieces op. 23 with Ulrich Krämer, the long-standing director of the research centre of the Arnold Schönberg Complete Edition in Berlin, and
3. In an afternoon with three short lectures and a panel discussion on Schönberg's relevance in contemporary compositional practice, editions, and concert life.

Guests are welcome at all events – only the workshop with Ulrich Krämer requires a registration. Admission is free.

15 and 16 April 2024, Curt-Sachs-Saal of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum
Masterclass piano and piano chamber music of the Second Viennese School (Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Eisler and others)
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Students of the Universität der Künste Berlin and the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler".

15 April 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 15 p.m. to 5 p.m.
16 April 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

15 April 2024, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. / 16 April 2024, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Seminar room of the Staatliches Intitut für Musikforschung
Workshop on the edition of Arnold Schönberg, Five Piano Pieces op. 23 (1920-1923)
Ulrich Krämer
Students of the Berlin universities and music academies
Guests are welcome. Registration required: Schönberg2024@sim.spk-berlin.de

17 April 2024, 4.30 p. m. – 7 p. m., Curt-Sachs-Saal of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum
Three lectures and a panel discussion
Simone Hohmaier: Schönberg is alive? Schönberg and the current practice of composition
Ulrich Krämer: "...the boldest thing that has ever been undertaken in the field of New Music": On the conclusion of the Schönberg Complete Edition
Heinz von Loesch: Schönberg – the Tchaikovsky of the 20th century? Works of the Second Viennese School in concerts and recordings by the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1919

Panel discussion on "Schönberg today" with composer Leah Muir, composer and pianist Steffen Schleiermacher, Walter Küssner from the Berliner Philharmoniker and others

17 April 2024, 8 pm, Curt-Sachs-Saal of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum
Final concert of the Masterclass Piano and Piano Chamber Music of the Second Viennese School (Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Eisler and others)
Students of the Universität der Künste and the Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ Berlin

Admission free, donations welcome

Steffen Schleiermacher was born in 1960 in Halle, studying piano and composition between 1980–1985 at Musikhochschule "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig with Gerhard Erber, Siegfried Thiele and Friedrich Schenker. Between 1986–87, he was a master student at the Akademie der Künste with Friedrich Goldmann, specialising in 20th century music, and in 1989/90, undertook additional studies at the Musikhochschule Cologne with Aloys Kontarsky. Since 1988, he has been the director of the concert series "musica nova" at the Gewandhaus Leipzig. Since 1990, he has partaken in concert and lecture tours as a composer, pianist and conductor to almost all European countries, as well as the USA, South America, Southeast Asia and the Far East. He has made approximately 80 CD recordings, mainly with Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, which includes a recording of the complete piano works of John Cage. He has also won numerous prizes, awards, and scholarships since 1985, which include the Hanns Eisler Prize, Christian & Stefan Kaske Prize, Villa Massimo Rome, Japan Foundation, 2010 Chevalier des arts et lettres, 6x Echo-Klassik, and the 2019 Friedlieb-Ferdinand Runge Prize for unconventional art education. In 2020, he published the book Der Avangartainer (with Olaf Wilhelmer) via Kamprad-Verlag. And in 2021/22, he attained the scholarship of Villa Concordia Bamberg.