Commissions to Helga Arias und Lukas Stamm

Founded in 2015 by Michal Lewkowicz, the Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival is a multi-day classical chamber music event celebrating the diverse encounters between Jewish music and Western art music. Each year in January, renowned artists from Switzerland and around the world come together in Basel to present works from different eras on a specific theme. The programmes are performed in very different concert spaces throughout the city. They take the audience on a varied journey to discover unknown works and new perspectives on the classics. Thanks to this unique concept, the Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival occupies a special place in the Swiss cultural calendar. It owes its name to the biblical psalms, Mizmorim in Hebrew.

For the 2024 edition of the festival, two commissions will be awarded, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

The first commission, for the festival’s opening concert, goes to the Spanish composer Helga Arias, who lives in Switzerland, and was commissioned jointly by the Mizmorim Festival and the Lucerne Festival. The work will be premiered by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) and the Basler Madrigalisten in the great hall of the Stadtcasino Basel.

The second commission for Lukas Stamm was created in collaboration with the I&I Foundation of Ilya Gringolts and Ilan Volkov for the promotion of young composers. Lukas Stamm is writing a work for solo violin and ensemble. The work will be premiered by the Mizmorim Festival Ensemble under the direction of Baldur Brönnimann with soloist Ilya Gringolts at the Gare du Nord Basel.

Further information:
mizmorim.com

Dates

January 25, 2024
Stadtcasino Basel

January 27, 2024
Gare du Nord, Basel