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Biographical

Composer of Our Time

Biographical

List of Works

The complete œuvre 1943 - 2012

List of Works

Events

since October 2013

Events

Szene aus "Pollicino", Teatro alla Scala, Mailand 05.04.1989

Publications

Books, CDs, DVDs

Publications

Publications

A casa di Hans

Publications

Gallery

Fernsehproduktion von "La Cubana", New York 1974

Gallery

A film documentary has been released in a package with the new recording of Royal Winter Music I and II

The much-awaited first recording of the manuscript version of Henze's Royal Winter Music has been released on CD and in print.

The composer's efforts to create a stage version of the television opera La Cubana date back to the early 90s of the 20th century. Now the magnificent result can be seen at the Staatsoper Berlin on the stage of Linden21.

In February 2005, the Spanish National Orchestra and National Choir (OCNE) dedicated their annual festival "Carta Blanca" to Hans Werner Henze.

Here is an interview given by Hans Werner Henze during his first visit to Cuba on the occasion of the Cuban premiere of Das Floß der Medusa:

In 1954, the composer experienced his first scandal at the Roman premiere of Boulevard Solitude. The claqueurs had been paid by someone else. And Igor Stravinsky, the greatest living composer at the time, was denied entry to the opera house, the Teatro Costanzi. Here is the excerpt from Henze's autobiography:

The catalogue of Sylvano Bussotti's correspondence (1931-2021) kept at the ‘NoMus’ Study and Research Centre on 20th and Contemporary Music in Milan offers for the first time an overview of the correspondence kept in the composer's private archive during his lifetime. In the corpus of around 1,500 documents, the correspondents are very varied and include famous personalities from the Italian and international cultural scene as well as lesser-known names from the author's inner circle.
Page 109 contains two short documents written by Hans Werner Henze in 1986 and 1991.

This volume brings together letters, essays, photos and documents. They can be read as a reflection of a time when new music was just beginning to emerge, when encrusted morals were barely beginning to loosen and racism in this country was only somewhat more covert. Pearson knew how to compensate for this social and cultural tension and, despite his success, also knew why he was denied classical opera roles despite his outstanding singing qualities and the praise he received for them.

Hans Werner Henze would have been 100 years old on 1. July 2026. This momentous occasion prompts a re-examination of the enormous oevre that the composer left behind and which is now part of the core repertoire of music theatre and concert life.

Scene from "Pollicino", Teatro alla Scala, Milan 05.04.1989

WP "Five Neapolitan Songs", Frankfurt am Main 1956

Roman column fragments in the garden of La Leprara, 2008

Event-highlights

Monday

March 2025

Staatskapelle Berlin
Dirigent: Christian Thielemann

Sunday

May 2025

Dirigent: Markus Stenz
Regie: Daniele Menghini
Bühnenbild: Davide Signorini
Kostüme: Nika Campisi
Licht: Gianni Bertoli

Wednesday

May 2025

Dirigent: Markus Stenz
Regie: Daniele Menghini
Bühnenbild: Davide Signorini
Kostüme: Nika Campisi
Licht: Gianni Bertoli

Friday

July 2025

ORF-Symphonieorchester Wien
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
WDR-Rundfunkchor
Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor

La Mort: Kathrin Zukowski
Jean-Charles: Georg Nigl
Charon: Jakob Diehl

Dirigent: Ingo Metzmacher

Wednesday

November 2025

Dirigentin: Katharina Wincor
Regie: Christiane Lutz
Bühne: Christian Andre Tabakoff
Kostüm: Dorothee Joisten
Licht: Benedikt Zehm
Dramaturgie: Olaf Roth

Lord Puff: Michael Butler
Arnold: Daniel Vening
Louise: Iana Aivazian
Mr. Keene / Der Verteidiger / Der Pfarrer: Dafydd Jones
Peter: Samuel Stopford
Mr. Plunkett / Der Staatsanwalt: Bruno Khouri
Miss Crisp: Elene Gvritishvili
Mrs. Gomfit: Nontobeko Bhengu
Lady Toodle: Jess Dandy
Minette: Seonwoo Lee
Babette: Lucy Altus
Tom: Armand Rabot
Mr. Jones / Der Richter / Mr. Fawn: Zhe Liu

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Friday

November 2025

Sunday

November 2025

Sunday

January 2026

Wednesday

January 2026

Friday

January 2026

	Hastverstraße 32 90408 Nürnberg - Germany
	info@hans-werner-henze-stiftung.de
	+49 (0) 911 2373862