Commissions to Britta Byström & Garth Knox

The CAMERATA BERN is awarding commissions to Britta Byström and Garth Knox for the 2025/26 season, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

In one of his most famous chansons, Jacques Brel, unhappy in love, begged: ‘Ne me quitte pas’ (Don’t leave me). Now, Swedish composer Britta Byström, who is well established in the genre of orchestral music, is using the 1950s hit as the basis for a concerto for trumpet and strings entitled Ne me quitte pas. The idea for the work originated in Bern, where it will also be premiered. The idea came from trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, who, like Brel, comes from Belgium and is known for his versatility and commitment to contemporary music.

Viola player Lawrence Power presents his debut programme for CAMERATA BERN as a ‘musical stream of consciousness’, a grand story told in two parts through the medium of music. Part one leads from the tragic fate of the Carthaginian queen Dido in Henry Purcell’s opera to Celtic songs in a viola concerto by Sally Beamish and Gertrude Stein’s surrealistic recollection of the ‘once round’ world in John Cage’s Living Room Music, ending with Peter Maxwell Davies’ farewell to a fishing village on the Scottish Orkney Islands. The new composition for viola and strings by Garth Knox will be premiered in January 2026 by Lawrence Power and the CAMERATA BERN.

Further information:
cameratabern.ch

Dates

November 1 & 2, 2025
Zentrum Paul Klee, Auditorium, Bern

January 10 & 11, 2026
Zentrum Paul Klee, Auditorium, Bern