Founded in 1993, the Collegium Novum set itself the goal of promoting and performing contemporary music in high standard interpretations. Contemporary music production is set in context to music of bygone epochs. An integral part in artistic work is the direct contact with composers as well as the exchange with the Zurich School of Music and Drama. Thanks to its mobile structure, the 25-member soloist ensemble can flexibly revert to any instrumentation, from solo to grand ensemble. It allows for the arranging of a program according to contentual criteria only. In the ensemble, the members also make appearances as soloists. Alongside their function in the ensemble, they play a leading role in Swiss cultural life.
Subsidised by the city of Zurich and in co-operation with the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft, the Collegium Novum Zürich maintains a concert series of its own in Zurich's Tonhalle. Further concert projects aim at a genre-embracing integration of arts and at a suggestive connection of the musical program and the venue. Thus, co-operations with Zurich's museum Haus Konstruktiv, the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Zürcher Brockenhaus have emerged.
The Collegium Novum Zürich gave countless world premieres: compositions by Frangis Ali-Sade, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Edu Haubensak, Hans Werner Henze, Klaus Huber, Michael Jarell, Mischa Käser, Rudolf Kelterborn, Christoph Neidhöfer, Giorgio Netti, Helmut Oehring, Klaus Ospald, Hilda Paredes, Felix Profos, Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini, Annette Schmucki, Nadir Vassena and Gérard Zinsstag amongst others.
The ensemble has been led by renowned conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Friedrich Cerha, Mark Foster, Beat Furrer, Howard Griffiths, Peter Hirsch, Heinz Holliger, Mauricio Kagel, Johannes Kalitzke, Roland Kluttig, Susanna Mälkki, Zsolt Nagy, Pascal Rophé, Peter Rundel and Jürg Wyttenbach.
The Collegium Novum Zürich regularly plays in Switzerland as well as abroad and gives guest performances at renowned Festivals such as the Ultraschall Berlin, Berlin Festival – MarchMusic, Ars Musica Brussels, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival, Schwetzing Festival, Vienna modern, Wittener Days for New Chamber Music, Warsaw Autumn and Days for New Music Zurich.
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Luciano Berio: Naturale
Hanns Eisler: Tagebuch, op. 9
Hanns Eisler: Duo, op. 7 für Violine und Violoncello
Hanns Eisler: Vierzehn Arten den Regen zu beschreiben, op. 70
Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel
Morton Feldman: For John Cage
Morton Feldman: Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello
Roberto Gerhard: Libra
Gérard Grisey: Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil für Sopran und 15 Instrumente
Gérard Grisey: Vortex temporum
Gérard Grisey: Périodes
Hans Werner Henze: Voices, a Collection of Songs for two vocalists and instrumental groups
Heinz Holliger:
Puneigä for soprano, flute, clarinet, horn, viola, violoncello and percussion (with cimbalum)
Leos Janácek: Tagebuch eines Verschollenen
Leos Janácek: Concertino
Michael Jarrell:
Music for a While for ensemble (fl, cl, sx, hn, tpt, tbn, 2perc, pf/cel, 2v, 2va, vc, db)
Mischa Käser:
Music to Alexander for soprano and instrumental ensemble (flute/melodica, clarinet, piano/melodica, accordion, mandolin, violin/viola, violoncello)
Mischa Käser:
two carpets for soprano and vocalist, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, viola, violoncello and double-bass
Roland Moser: Oszillation und Figur aus den Ritterfragmenten für Kammerensemble
Tristan Murail: La barque mystique
Tristan Murail: L'esprit des dunes
Olga Neuwirth: torsion: transparent variation für Fagott und Ensemble
Giacinto Scelsi: Kya
Annette Schmucki: Die sprunghafte Erweiterung des Wortschatzes
Annette Schmucki: arbeiten/verlieren, die wörter
Arnold Schonberg: Lieder, op. 6
Werner Schulze: Kalkül. Musiktheater in 2 Akten
Arnold Schönberg: Brettl-Lieder (1901)
Arnold Schönberg: Serenade, op. 24
Nikos Skalkottas: Andante sostenuto für Klavier, 10 Blasinstrumente und Schlagzeug
Nikos Skalkottas: Oktett für Flöte, Oboe, Klarinette, Fagott und Streichquartett
Anton Webern: Konzert, op. 24
Jacques Wildberger:
Elegy for soprano and chamber ensemble (clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, percussion and string quintet)
Jacques Wildberger:
Kammerkonzert for string instruments and synthesizer (harpsichord, concert piano with three pedals, pianoforte, each set a sixteenth-tone apart, synthesizer Yamaha SY 99 programmed to sixteenth-tone, two violoncelli and two double-bass)
Iannis Xenakis: Phlegra
Iannis Xenakis: Palimpsest
Iannis Xenakis: Waarg
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Un petit rien
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Das Gelb und das Grün
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Omnia tempus habent
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Metamorphose
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Présence
Gérard Zinsstag: Quatre mouvements für 15 Instrumente
Kübler, Susanne: Vorwärts in die Vergangenheit. Wo steht das Collegium Novum Zürich heute?, in:
Dissonanz 119 (2012), S. 32-35 [
Internet]
vogel, Peter: Die alte Leier - oder: Wann ist Musik eigentlich neu?, in: NZZ am Sonntag (19.01.2003) (2003), S. 49