The Munich Biennale () is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over 2–3 weeks in the late spring. The festival concentrates on world premieres of theater-related contemporary music, with a particular focus on commissioning first operas from young composers.Munich Biennale Concert Series: Biennale plus Ernst von Siemens music foundation 2010
History
Hans Werner Henze's artistic directorship (1988–1996) Henze, himself a prolific composer of operas, described the genesis of the festival like this:
Henze curated the first four festivals, from 1988 to 1994, and established the general format of most of the festivals that followed.Official website, archive notes to first biennale, 1988 Short runs of the premiered operas are preceded by talks and additional concerts from the featured composers, to introduce the audiences to their ideas and music.Official website, Klangspuren (discussion concerts) archive See also Klangspuren.
Peter Ruzicka's artistic directorship (1996–2014) Peter Ruzicka took over as artistic director ("one of the most influential administrative/ artistic positions in the European music-theatre scene")Salzman, Desi, p. 164 in 1996, with that year's biennale being jointly curated by Henze. Ruzicka broadened the scope of the works presented, with more emphasis on works using multimedia, and moving away from the text-based sources that characterised the period curated by Henze.Official website,
Manos Tsangaris and Daniel Ott's artistic directorship (2016–2024) The composers Manos Tsangaris and Daniel Ott took over as joint artistic directors of the Biennale, starting in 2016. Their approach to curation further expanded the festival's remit beyond opera, to reflect an 'expanded composition term' and the 'open field' of new music theatre which spans '[f]rom new opera to scenic installation, from minimalized artistic interventions in municipal spaces to composed performance'.
Katrin Beck and Manuela Kerer's artistic directorship (2026–) Katrin Beck and Manuela Kerer took over as joint artistic directors of the Biennale, starting in 2026.
Operas given at the Munich Biennale World premieres are marked as WP Premiere Composer TitleLibretto and source 29 May 1988 WP Detlev Glanert Leyla und Medjnun Aras Ören and Peter Schneider, after the epic poem by Nizami 3 Jun 1988 WP Gerd Kühr Stallerhof Franz Xaver Kroetz, after his own play 4 Jun 1988 WP Adriana Hölszky Bremer Freiheit , after the play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder 17 Jun 1988 WP Mark-Anthony Turnage Greek the composer and Jonathan Moore, after the play by Steven Berkoff 26 Apr 1990 WP András Hamary Seid still José Vera Morales, after the play Tóték by István Örkény 28 Apr 1990 WP Wolfgang von Schweinitz Patmos , after the Apocalypse of St John in Martin Luther's translation 6 May 1990 WP Hans-Jürgen von Bose 63: Dream Palace the composer, after the novella by James Purdy 14 May 1990 WP Michèle Reverdy Le Précepteur Hans-Ulrich Treichel, after the play Der Hofmeister by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz 7 May 1992Dinescu's Eréndira was a co-commission with the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where it had its world premiere on 18 March 1992 Violeta Dinescu Eréndira Monika Rothmaier, after the story The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel García Márquez 29 Apr 1992 WP Jorge Liderman Antigona Furiosa the composer, after the drama by Griselda Gambaro 27 May 1992Battistelli's Teorema was a co-commission with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where it had its world premiere in the Teatro Comunale, on 10 May 1992 Giorgio Battistelli Teorema the composer, loosely after the film by Pier Paolo Pasolini 16 May 1992 WP Gerhard Stäbler Sünde.Fall.Beil , after the drama Catherine Howard by Alexandre Dumas père 22 May 1992Vir's operas Broken Strings and Snatched by the Gods were a co-commission with De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, where they had their world premieres on 11 May 1992 Param Vir Broken Strings David Rudkin, after the Buddhist story Guttil Jatak 22 May 1992 Param Vir Snatched by the Gods William Radice, after the poem Debatar Gras by Rabindranath Tagore 1 May 1994 WP Tania León Scourge of Hyacinths the composer, after the radio play by Wole Soyinka 19 May 1994 WP Benedict Mason Playing Away Howard Brenton 4 Dec 1996 WP Michael Obst Solaris the composer, after the novel by Stanislaw Lem 9 Dec 1996 WP Hanna Kulenty The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams Paul Goodwin 14 Apr 1997 WP Roderick Watkins The Juniper Tree Patricia Debney, after the folk tale by the Brothers Grimm 19 Apr 1998 WP Toshio Hosokawa Vision of Lear Tadashi Suzuki, after his stage play The Tale of Lear 21 Apr 1998 WP Sandeep Bhagwati Ramanujan the composer, after the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) 25 Apr 1998 WP Jan Müller-Wieland the composer, after the drama by Federico García Lorca 19 Apr 1999 WP Mauricio Sotelo De Amore 10 May 2000 WP Chaya Czernowin Pnima ... ins Innere 27 Apr 2002 WP André Werner Marlowe: Der Jude von Malta the composer, after the play The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe 3 May 2002 WP Manfred Stahnke Orpheus Kristall Simone Homem de Mello 12 May 2004 WP Johannes Maria Staud Berenice Durs Grünbein, after Edgar Allan Poe 25 May 2004 WP Brian Ferneyhough Shadowtime Charles Bernstein 9 May 2006 WP Aureliano Cattaneo La Philosophie dans le labyrinthe Edoardo Sanguineti, after the Greek myth of the Minotaur 18 May 2006 WP José María Sánchez-Verdú GRAMMA the composer 17 Apr 2008 WP Enno Poppe Arbeit Nahrung Wohnung Marcel Beyer, loosely after the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 18 Apr 2008 WP Klaus Lang Die Architektur des Regens after the Noh play Shiga by Zeami (c1363–c1443) 23 Apr 2008 WP Carola Bauckholt hellhörig (none) 30 Apr 2008 WP Jens Joneleit Piero – Ende der Nacht Michael Herrschel, loosely after the novel Die Rote by Alfred Andersch 27 Apr 2010 WP Philipp Maintz Maldoror Thomas Fiedler, after Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont 28 Apr 2010 WP Márton Illés Die weiße Fürstin after the first draft of the dramatic poem by Rainer Maria Rilke 5 May 2010 WP Klaus Schedl TiltTilt, Der Einsturz des Himmels and In Erwartung were presented in a triple bill entitled Amazonas Roland Quitt, after the diary of Sir Walter Raleigh 5 May 2010 WP Tato Taborda Der Einsturz des Himmels Roland Quitt, after the book La Chute du Ciel by Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert 5 May 2010 WP Ludger Brummer (web) In Erwartung Peter Weibel 9 May 2010 WP Lin Wang Die Quelle the composer and Can Xue, after a story "the Double Life" by Can Xue 3 May 2012 WP Sarah Nemtsov L'Absence the composer, after Livre des Questions by Edmond Jabès 5 May 2012 WP Eunyoung Esther Kim (web) Mama Dolorosa Yona Kim 16 May 2012 WP Arnulf Herrmann Wasser Nico Bleutge (lyrics) 7 May 2014 WPAdvance information for the 2014 edition from the Munich Biennale website. Retrieved 25 December 2013 Marko Nikodijević Vivier , after the life and death of Claude Vivier 8 May 2014 WP Samy Moussa (web) Vastation Toby Litt 11 May 2014 Claude Vivier Kopernikus opéra-rituel de mort, libretto by the composer 17 May 2014 WP Dieter Schnebel Utopien 22 May 2014 WP Hèctor Parra Das geopferte Leben Marie NDiaye
Significance The Munich Biennale has provided first or early commissions for stage works from many composers now established as opera composers, such as Mark-Anthony Turnage, Detlev Glanert, Gerd Kühr, Hans-Jürgen von Bose, Param Vir, Toshio Hosokawa and Violeta Dinescu.
The strongly international scope of the festival has meant that it has been able to offer opportunities missing at a national level.Salzman, Desi; p. 222: ".. with one or two notable exceptions, the lively London theatre and music scene has not developed a strong creative music-theatre component. The result is that the Munich Biennale and the film industry have sometimes been better patrons for new British opera and music theatre than local musical institutions".
References Notes
Sources münchener biennale Festival website Retrieved 13 March 2012
External links Peter & Alexa Woolf: Munich Biennale 2000 (Contemporary Music Festival) 4–19 May 2000 (PGW & AW) musicweb-international.com 2000 John Warnaby: Tenth Münchener Biennale musicweb-international.com 20 May 2006 Komponieren für die reine Natur Münchener Merkur 23 April 2010 Münchener Biennale / Urwald-Symphonie und surrealer Seelentrip Bayerischer Rundfunk 14 May 2010 Gerhard Rohde: Münchener Biennale / Wozu der ganze Aufwand? FAZ 12 May 2010