Resounding Success for Festival of Contemporary Orchestral Music

The »Elbphilharmonie Visions« festival, jointly organised by the Elbphilharmonie and NDR, came to a successful end yesterday, on Sunday. From 7 to 16 February 2025, the Grand Hall of Hamburg’s iconic concert hall was filled with orchestral music written in the 21st century. One of the highlights was the world premiere of Alex Paxton’s »World Builder, Creature«, performed by the festival’s initiator Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Clara Iannotta’s intensely powerful »Moult for Orchestra« captivated the audience, as did Johannes Maria Staud’s virtuoso percussion concerto »Whereas the Reality Trembles« featuring soloist Christoph Sietzen. Francesca Verunelli’s »From Scratch« explored mesmerising soundscapes emerging from delicate scratching, while Mark Andre’s »Vier Echographien für Orchester« brought the Elbphilharmonie to the edge of absolute silence. Helmut Lachenmann’s latest major work »My Melodies« with eight horn soloists was a fascinating invitation to deep listening and perception. For the first time, the »Elphi« audience also got to immerse themselves in club culture with music and drinks after the concerts. On the recently repurposed fifth floor, festivalgoers stayed on late into the night at a pop-up bar with DJs on the decks from London, Brussels, and Hamburg. These after-show events were hosted by Hamburg-Altona’s renowned music bar, RIAA. The next edition of Elbphilharmonie Visions will take place in February 2027.

The »Elbphilharmonie Visions« festival had its successful debut in February 2023, and with its second edition, the biennale organised by NDR and the Elbphilharmonie has now firmly established itself as a leading festival for new music. Seven radio orchestras and choirs from Germany and Austria performed a total of 16 of the most important works of the 21st century in a series of compact concerts. Following the festival, the Elbphilharmonie expressed great satisfaction at the high level of audience engagement with contemporary music. Over the course of just over a week, seven concerts featuring contemporary orchestral music programmes attracted a total of 13,157 people, resulting in an impressive average attendance rate of 92%. The organisers were especially pleased to welcome around 6,000 first-time visitors to the Elbphilharmonie, with 23.5% of the audience being under the age of 30. These figures surpassed the already outstanding visitor statistics from the first edition of the New Music Festival in 2023.

The premiere of Alex Paxton’s latest work at the opening concert caused quite a stir. Previously, the British composer had been awarded the Claussen Simon Composition Prize, which comes with a €15,000 endowment. The objective of the composition prize is to allow a young composer to have a work for full orchestra performed in a high-profile setting, while also providing creative and organisational support over the course of the composition process. Through the collaboration between the three renowned institutions, the successful composer will secure extensive funding, gain valuable experience and receive active support as they seek to establish themselves as a professional composer. A core element of the composition process is direct exchange with key figures from the orchestra, concert hall and foundation. At the first edition of »Elbphilharmonie Visions« in 2023, the award-winning work »Flügel« by Swedish composer Lisa Streich was met with great enthusiasm from audiences and critics alike. The Claussen Simon Foundation now awards, for the third time, a composition prize to a young composer in cooperation with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. The composition prize is awarded in the form of a commissioned work for orchestra. The orchestral piece will be premiered in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall as part of the »Elbphilharmonie Visions« festival in February 2027, with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra performing under the direction of Alan Gilbert. Applications are open until 20 March 2025.