Ensemble Modern Orchestra conducted by Sir George Benjamin

As the first ever concert to be promoted by Wigmore Hall at the Roundhouse, this performance harks back to the days of Boulez’s famous avant-garde concerts at the iconic Camden venue, and offers a chance to hear largescale contemporary works in an inimitable setting. Together with an intense work by the Russian Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006), Sir George Benjamin conducts his own Palimpsests (2002), inspired by ‘the concept of a piece of parchment, or slate, used over and over again for different pieces of music’.

Programme

Pierre Boulez Initiale
Olivier Messiaen 7 haïkaï for piano and orchestra
Galina Ustvolskaya Composition No. 2 ‘Dies irae’ for 8 double basses, percussion and piano

Interval

György Ligeti Ramifications for 12 solo strings
Sir George Benjamin Palimpsests for orchestra

Performers

Ensemble Modern Orchestra
Sir George Benjamin conductor
Ueli Wiget piano