Tonlagen 2021

The 30th edition of the international Tonlagen festival of contemporary music will take place in 2021 at the Festspielhaus Hellerau and other locations in Dresden. Several world premieres, as well as local and superregional collaborations are planned for this anniversary edition. The musical spectrum of the festival, directed by Moritz Lobeck, consists of recent projects by younger composers, projects developed in the local scene, and new and experimental concerts and music theatre concepts. Together with the Munich Biennale, the upcoming festival will focus largely on contemporary music theatre. The featured works include a world premiere by Trond Reinholdtsen and the Ensemble Decoder and a musical about A.R. Penck. The Tonlagen festival is also cooperating with institutions locally based in Dresden, e.g. the Staatsschauspiel and Dresden College of Music on the world premiere of a music theatre piece by Alberto Arroyo, and with the Semperoper on a new production of the Ghost Sonata by Aribert Reimann. Tonlagen is also organising a concert with the Staatskapelle Dresden. In cooperation with the Dresden Film Festival, scheduled to take place at the same time, the organisers will award a film music prize in Hellerau. The festival is developing an exhibition on the history of the Dresden Centre of Contemporary Music together with the Saxon Academy of the Arts and the Saxon State Library (SLUB). Concerts and musicological research projects will highlight the experimental music and film music of the GDR. The festival’s artist in residence is the Croatian composer Mirela Ivičević who will present her new works together with the Black Page Orchestra.

Artistic director: Moritz Lobeck
Ensembles/performers: AUDITIVVOKAL, BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA, Decoder Ensemble, Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen, ensemble unitedberlin, Pisse, Staatskapelle Dresden, Trickster Orchestra, Zeitkratzer and others

Composers: Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Óscar Escudero & Belenish Moreno-Gil, Ashley Fure, Mirela Ivičević, Brigitta Muntendorf, John Moran & Josh Spear, Trond Reinholdtsen and others