Spring 2026 highlights from Boosey & Hawkes London
The coming Spring brings an extensive collection of new and recent works by Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski composers, including world premieres by Michel van der Aa, Ondrej Adámek, Brett Dean, Olga Neuwirth and Matthias Pintscher.
Here are Spring highlights selected by Boosey & Hawkes in London from events taking place in Europe, Asia and Australasia. For season highlights taking place in North, South and Latin America, including events launching the America at 250 celebrations in 2026, click here.
2026
11 January, Berlin
Matthias Pintscher Das kalte Herz (world premiere)
The Berlin State Opera presents Pintscher’s third full-evening theatre work, his first commission under his recent publishing contract with Boosey & Hawkes. The composer is on the rostrum for this new adaptation by Daniel Arkadij Gerzenberg of Hauff’s classic German folk tale The Cold Heart. The opera in 12 scenes is set deep in a mysterious forest landscape, summoning for the composer a kinship with texts by Maeterlinck and linking his upbringing in Germany with his period living and working in France. The opera is a co-commission with the Opéra Comique in Paris which presents the French premiere with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France next spring (11 Mar).
> Opera info
24 January, Mainz
Julia Kerr Der Chronoplan (world premiere)
Born in Wiesbaden in 1898, Julia Kerr was establishing a thriving career as a composer, when she had to flee Germany as her husband, the writer and literary critic Alfred Kerr, was an outspoken critic of the Nazis. Her second opera, Der Chronoplan, was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera but was never performed after the war when the couple built a new life in England. The music for this humorous time opera, with a cast including Albert Einstein, Richard Strauss and George Bernard Shaw, has been completed and arranged by Norbert Biermann for premiere at the Mainz Staatstheater conducted by Gabriel Venzago.
> Opera info
1 February, Hamburg
Olga Neuwirth Monster’s Paradise (world premiere)
In her third operatic collaboration with writer Elfriede Jelinek, Neuwirth has created a ’grand guignol opera’ taking a satirical look at the monstrosities of our conflict-ridden times. Blending absurd theatre and the myths of cult monster films, the new opera is staged at the Hamburg State Opera by Tobias Kratzer and conducted by Titus Engel. The production also travels to the Zürich Opera House next spring (8 Mar). A few days after the Hamburg premiere, Simon Rattle conducts the first performance of Neuwirth’s new clarinet concerto for Jörg Widmann, Zones of Blue, in the Musica Viva series in Munich (6 Feb), with further performances by Widmann in Barcelona (21 Feb) and Cleveland (7 May).
> Opera info
5 February, Copenhagen
Mark-Anthony Turnage Festen Suite (world premiere)
The composer’s symphonic suite drawn from his acclaimed new opera Festen is premiered on 5 February by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alondra de la Parra at the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen. The full opera reaches the Finnish stage in Helsinki on 27 March at Finnish National Opera, seen in the award-winning production by Richard Jones, conducted by James Hendry.
> Concert info
8 February, Paris
Ondrej Adámek Thin Ice (Violin Concerto No.2) (world premiere)
In response to the international success of his first violin concerto, Follow Me, Adámek has created a new concerto written for violinist Christian Tetzlaff. The premiere of Thin Ice at the Présences Festival is conducted by Cristian Macelaru with the Orchestre National de France. Further performances in February are with the Musikollegium Winterthur and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, followed by the London Symphony Orchestra in a future season, all with Tetzlaff as soloist.
> Concert info
25 February, London
John Adams After the Fall (UK premiere)
Following European performances in Zürich, Hamburg, Paris, Vienna and Gothenburg, Adams’s new piano concerto reaches London on 25 February. Vikingur Ólafsson is soloist with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Next spring also sees a revival of Opéra de Paris’s production of Nixon in China, with Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming returning as the Presidential couple (24 Feb). Adams’s most recent stagework Antony and Cleopatra receives its German premiere in Koblenz (9 May) and there is a new staging of The Death of Klinghoffer directed by Luca Guadagnino opening the Maggio Musicale in Florence (19 Apr).
> Concert info
6 March, Amsterdam
Michel van der Aa Theory of Flames (world premiere)
For his latest cutting-edge film opera, premiered at Dutch National Opera, Michel van der Aa explores the alienating world of post-truth disinformation and conspiracy theories. The creative work and personal life of a filmmaker increasingly blur as she investigates a fire destroying a research project into black holes. Further performances of Theory of Flames are planned by co-commissioners Norwegian National Opera and the Bregenz Festival. 2026 will bring multiple performances of Van der Aa’s award-winning virtual reality opera installation From Dust, following presentations in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and at the Cannes Festival where it won the 2025 Immersive Award.
> Opera info
29 March, Nancy
Marko Nikodijevic I Didn’t Know Where To Put All My Tears (world premiere)
Nikodijevic’s new prologue to Britten’s Curlew River is staged at the Opéra National in Nancy in a double-bill inspired by Noh theatre, directed by Silvia Costa and conducted by Alphonse Chemin (29 Mar). Following its premiere at the Aviva Studios in Manchester, Nikodijevic’s music for Marina Abramovic’s Balkan Erotic Epic can be experienced in an alternative version for the operatic stage at the Liceu in Barcelona (24 Jan).
> Opera info
18 April, Liège
Manfred Trojahn Je suis l’idée maîtresse (world premiere)
This new work for mezzo-soprano and orchestra is premiered by Gaelle Arquez with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège conducted by Lionel Bringuier. Setting texts by Paul Valéry, Trojahn’s reflective scena is also presented by the orchestra at the Philharmonie in Cologne (19 Apr). This season has also brought the first Austrian staging of Trojahn’s award-winning opera Eurydice - Die Liebenden, blind, following its premiere at Dutch National Opera in 2022. The production by Neue Oper Wien, directed by Juana Inés Cano Restrepo, received four performances in Vienna’s Museumsquartier in October.
> Concert info
8 May, London
Anna Clyne Sirens (world premiere)
Scored for solo horn and string orchestra, Clyne’s Sirens, conjuring up the mythical beauties who lured sailors to their deaths, is premiered by Ben Goldscheider and the London Mozart Players at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Future performances are planned with Goldscheider and the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, the Omega Ensemble and the Arctic Philharmonic. Her residency with the Göttingen Symphony includes the German premieres of two recent concertos, ATLAS for piano and orchestra (20 Mar) and Quarter Days for string quartet and orchestra (12 Jun). Clyne’s commission for Oxford's newly opened Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Looking Glass, is a collaboration with sound designer Jody Elff, inspired by the surreal world of Lewis Carroll and scored for string quartet, chamber orchestra and electronics (24 Jun).
> Concert info
10 May, Munich
Brett Dean Of One Blood (world premiere)
Following the success of his operas Bliss and Hamlet, Dean’s third stagework explores the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, sharing family blood but divided by politics and religion. Claus Guth directs the premiere production of Of One Blood at the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by Vladmir Jurowski, with further stagings planned by the Santa Fe Opera, the State Opera South Australia and Garsington Opera in the UK. The coming season also brings first European performances of Dean’s String Quartet No.4: ‘A Little Book of Prayers’, composed for the Belcea Quartet, and multiple performances in a residency with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Saarbrücken.
> Opera info
16 May, Dresden
Elena Kats-Chernin Simsalabim – Das magische Leben des Dr. Schreiber (world premiere)
This first musical by Kats-Chernin, commissioned by the Dresden State Operetta, takes us into the magical world and dark hidden secrets of Helmut Schreiber. He brightened the post-war 1940s with his groundbreaking show, featuring a disappearing luxury car, the sawing in half of his blonde bombshell partner, and a never empty drinks bar. The coming season also brings a new production of Iphis at the Staatstheater Darmstadt (19 Feb) and a revival of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson by the Komische Oper at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin (2 Apr).
> Opera info
2 June, London
James MacMillan Angels Unawares (UK premiere)
2026 brings a new MacMillan oratorio, Angels Unawares, commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and written in collaboration with the late poet and cleric Robert Willis. The hour-long work receives first performances internationally next spring with The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia conducted by Harry Christophers, followed by its UK premiere at Cadogan Hall in London. MacMillan’s residency with the Dresden Philharmonic concludes with Cantos Sagrados in its choir and orchestra version (9/10 May).
> Concert info
12 June, Munich
Jüri Reinvere Das Lied von den zwei Erden (world premiere)
Scored for soprano, kannel (an Estonian folk zither) and orchestra, Reinvere’s new work is premiered in the Musica Viva series by Aušrine Stundyte and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Matthias Pintscher. The text by the composer extends on the Biblical promises of a new heaven and earth, offering hope to ‘a last generation’ from the perspective of the Baltic lands. Other premieres include a new double concerto for violinist Leila Josefowicz and harpist Trina Struble with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst (22 May).
> Concert info
18 June, Berlin
Gabriela Ortiz Revolución diamantina (German premiere)
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the first German performances of Ortiz’s glittering ballet score whose recording recently won three Grammy awards. The work was inspired by the feminist protest against the ongoing violence against women in the composer’s native Mexico. A further Ortiz collection by Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on the Platoon label has just been released, including Yanga and her cello concerto Dzonot, that receives its first UK performances this season with Alisa Weilerstein and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Marin Alsop (11 Mar).
> Concert info
25 June, Regensburg
Hans Winterberg Symphony No.3 (world premiere)
Regensburg has a special connection with the growing discovery of Winterberg as his musical estate is housed at the city’s Sudeten German Music Institute. Deported to Theresienstadt in 1945, Winterberg survived and worked for Bavarian Radio from 1947 onwards. Stefan Veselka conducts the first performances of the composer’s Symphony No.3 with the Regensburg Philharmonic. Boosey & Hawkes’s first editions of Winterberg’s music continue to be published, with a particular focus on his chamber works, mirrored by releases on the EDA Records label.
> Concert info