Charlotte Seither was born in Landau/Palatinate in 1965 and studied composition, piano, German studies and musicology in Hanover and Berlin. In 1998 she received her doctorate in philosophy. She has received numerous prizes and awards, including first prize in the international composition competition “Prague Spring” (1995), the sponsorship prize of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (2003), first prize in the international composition competition “Premi International Ciutat de Palma” (2004 ), the Praetorius Music Prize of the State of Lower Saxony in 2010, the Palatinate Music Prize in 2012 and the German Music Author Prize in the category of contemporary choral music in 2014. at the Cité des Arts Paris (1999), at the Palazzo Barbarigo Venice (1993), at the Villa Aurora Los Angeles (2000) and in 2009 at the Villa Massimo Rome. In 2013 she received a scholarship from the Villa Concordia Bamberg. After a guest professorship at the Bremen University of the Arts (2002), she continued to work there as a lecturer in contemporary music, followed by other teaching assignments and professorships, including the professorship for composition at the Munich University of Music and Theater in 2021. Her works are performed at numerous festivals, e.g. with BBC Symphony Orchestra London, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra Prague, ASKO Kamerkoor, IFWM Festival Seoul, GRAME Festival Lyon, Nuova Consonanza Rome, LACMA Los Angeles and GAUDEAMUS Amsterdam. She is a member of the GEMA Supervisory Board, GEMA Foundation Advisory Board, Bogliasco Foundation Fellow Advisory Council / Italy, Board of Directors of the German Composers Association (DKV), she has been Chairwoman of the Music Advisory Board of the Guardini Foundation Berlin since 2021 and a member of the INMM Darmstadt Board of Directors. She was a jury member most recently: Paul Abraham Composition Prize for contemporary music theater, Music Prize Saxony-Anhalt 2022, Concorso Internazionale di Composizione per Orchestra “2 Agosto” di Bologna 2022, New Start Culture I – support program of the German Music Council, New Start Culture II – support program of the German Music Council, New Culture III – support program of the German Music Council, German Music Competition for Composition, support program for repertoire education of the State Music Council of North Rhine-Westphalia, EZM support for orchestral music of the German Music Council.
In 2021, the world premieres of “fragend licht” (2021) for 8-part chamber choir and two cellos, anniversary concert for Sophie Scholl’s 100th birthday, Ensemble Vocantare Berlin, conductor: Tobias Walenciak, and of “Ferne Begegnung. Trois Adieux für Ludwig from B.” (2018) for chamber orchestra, German Orchestra Competition Bonn 2020/21, prize-winning orchestra of the competition (corona-related catch-up competition online). In 2022, among other things, “Sisters” (2022) for violin, violoncello and piano, a work commissioned by Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg for the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, was premiered and in the 2023/24 season of the Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen the premiere of the stage work “Fidelio Schweigt. Dialog- opera” will take place.
| composer_first_name | composer_last_name | title | date | orchestra | conductor | location | special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | Seither | Neues Werk für Stimme und Klavier | 05.07.2025 | Dietrich Henschel (Bariton), Anne Le Bozec (Klavier) | Bad Kissingen (Kissinger Sommer, Liederwerkstatt) | Uraufführung | |
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel XIX (wie schön leucht uns der morgenstern) für orgel solo | 18.07.2025 | Georg Gottschlich (Orgel) | Berlin (St. Marien Friedenau) | ||
| Andrea Lorenzo | Scartazzini | Enigma für Orchester | 18.07.2025 | Jenaer Philharmonie | Simon Gaudenz | Toblach (Mahler Festwochen) | |
| Beat | Furrer | Prophezeiungen – für Alt, Kontrabassklarinette und Akkordeon | 19.07.2025 | Helena Sorokina (Alt), Marco Sala (Kontrabassklarinette), Krassimir Sterev (Akkordeon), Cantando Admont | Cordula Bürgi | Salzburg (Salzburger Festspiele, Kollegienkirche) | |
| Manfred | Trojahn | Streichquartett Nr. 3 | 26.07.2025 | Kuss Quartett | Hitzacker (Sommerliche Musiktage) | ||
| Beat | Furrer | Prophezeiungen – für Alt, Kontrabassklarinette und Akkordeon | 27.07.2025 | Helena Sorokina (Alt), Marco Sala (Kontrab.klarinette), Krassimir Sterev (Akk.), Cantando Admont | Cordula Bürgi | Ossiach (Carinthischer Sommer, Stiftskirche) | |
| Charlotte | Seither | „ahnst du“ für Orchester, Chor und Vokalensemble | 02.08.2025 | Orchester, Chor und Vokalensemble der Musikakademie der Studienstiftung | Martin Wettges | Bruneck (Intercable Arena) | |
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel XXXVII (so nimm denn meine hände) choralvorspiel XXXVII (so nimm denn meine hände) | 07.08.2025 | Leo van Doeselaar (Orgel) | Kampen (Bovenkerk) | Niederländische Erstauff. | |
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel XXXVIII (schmücke dich, o liebe seele) | 13.08.2025 | Anna-Victoria Baltrusch | Trier (Konstantinbasilika) | ||
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel XXXVIII (schmücke dich, o liebe seele) | 17.08.2025 | Anna-Victoria Baltrusch | Fulda (Dom St. Salvator) | ||
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel III (die nacht ist vorgedrungen) für orgel solo | 22.08.2025 | Angela Metzger (Orgel) | Berlin (Internationaler Orgelsommer, Dom) | ||
| Dieter | Ammann | Viola Concerto „No templates“ | 30.08.2025 | Tabea Zimmermann (Viola) Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra | David Robertson | Luzern (Lucerne Festival) | |
| Bernd Alois | Zimmermann | Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu | 31.08.2025 | Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin | Anja Bihlmaier | Bonn | |
| Beat | Furrer | Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 | 03.09.2025 | Francesco Piemontesi (Klavier), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande | Jonathan Nott | Genf (Victoria Hall) | Urauff., auch 4.9. Genf |
| Dieter | Ammann | Violation für Violoncello und Orchester | 14.09.2025 | Sol Gabetta (Violoncello), Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra | Riccardo Chailly | Luzern (Lucerne Festival) | |
| Matthias | Pintscher | NUR für Klavier und Ensemble | 26.09.2025 | Conrad Tao (Klavier), Konzerthausorchester Berlin | Matthias Pintscher | Berlin (Konzerthaus) | auch 27.9. |
| Beat | Furrer | PHAOS für Orchester | 28.09.2025 | Basel Sinfonietta | Titus Engel | Basel (Stadtcasino) | Schweizer Erstauff. |
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel IX (erbarm dich mein, o herre gott) für orgel solo | 06.10.2025 | Henry Fairs (Orgel) | Berlin (Maria unter dem Kreuz, Vierter Orgelzyklus) | ||
| Philipp | Maintz | englouti, haché | 11.10.2025 | Angela Metzger (Orgel) | Madrid (Auditorio nacional de Música) | Span. Erstauff. | |
| Dieter | Ammann | Viola Concerto „No templates“ | 16.10.2025 | Nils Mönkemeyer (Viola), Münchener Kammerorchester | Bas Wiegers | München (Prinzregententheater) | |
| Manfred | Trojahn | Herbstmusik - Sinfonischer Satz | 23.10.2025 | Tiroler Symphonieorchester | Gerrit Prießnitz | Innsbruck (Congress) | auch 24.10. |
| Beat | Furrer | Studie III für Klavier solo | 02.11.2025 | Filippo Gorini (Klavier) | Hong Kong (City Hall) | Uraufführung | |
| Beat | Furrer | PHAOS für Orchester | 02.11.2025 | Basel Sinfonietta | Titus Engel | Essen (Philharmonie) | |
| Andrea Lorenzo | Scartazzini | Earth für Orchester (Neues Werk zum 200. Jubiläum der Bremer Philharmoniker) | 02.11.2025 | Bremer Philharmoniker | Marko Letonja | Bremen (Die Glocke) | Urauff., auch 3.11. |
| Giselher | Klebe | Das Mädchen aus Domrémy | 23.11.2025 | Alexander Hannemann, Regie: Michael Dissmeier | Detmold (Hochschule für Musik) | ||
| Lubica | Cekovská | Toy Procession or orchestra | 28.11.2025 | Houston Symphony Orchestra | Juraj Valcuha | Houston (Jones Hall) | Uraufführung |
| Philipp | Maintz | jag die hunde zurück! für sechs soprane und sechs schlagzeuger | 29.11.2025 | N. Senatskaya/S. Bódi/I. Balzer-Wolf/C. Vélez Murcia/H. Kim/M. Viera (Soprane), Christoph Sietzen | Wien (Festival Wien Modern, Konzerthaus) | Österr. Erstaufführung | |
| Philipp | Maintz | haché für orgel solo, englouti für orgel solo | 09.12.2025 | Angela Metzger (Orgel) | München (musica viva, Herkulessaal der Residenz) | ||
| Philipp | Maintz | choralvorspiel II (rorate cæli desuper) für orgel solo | 14.12.2025 | Andreas Sieling (Orgel) | Berlin (Dom) | Uraufführung | |
| Beat | Furrer | „Ira-Arca“ für Bassflöte und Kontrabass | 20.01.2026 | Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin | Berlin (Konzerthaus) |
Leonore is no longer a victim. In “Fidelio schweigt” the character who was merely a lover becomes an active subject and in so doing, emancipates herself from the well-known, all-too-familiar subject matter.
Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio” is unique on the theatre stage. What had to be established for other operas in the course of their performance history was true for Fidelio from the very beginning: the opera takes place in the here and now. The contradictions of the work, which Beethoven himself battled with, still apply today: the text, the narrative style, the historical theatrical form, the characters, the spoken dialogues – all these seem to resist a contemporary treatment of the work to the present day, so some stronger leverage has to be found.
“The victim is the person who does not take the initiative”, says the composer Charlotte Seither on the guiding principle of Leonore, the protagonist in her new stage work “Fidelio schweigt” (Fidelio is silent). “Together with Hermann Schneider, I have put aside precisely what for me restricts the subject matter historically, in order to make space for what interests me – removing the pressure for women to be victims.
In my work Leonore is no longer a victim. She is no longer just a lover, no longer the adjunct of a man – she becomes an active subject who, at the end, stands above traditional role models on a level with all the other powerful characters who surround her. Hope indeed remains hollow – as it does also with Beethoven – when it is not followed by action. That alone would justify such a work as a theme. As a woman, Leonore steps out of her context and is capable of power in that she acts. Yet in so doing she remains vulnerable. Empathy and power are not ruled out if a person is really capable of action. That is what I am interested in.”
The music theatre work “Fidelio schweigt” begins at this interface with Beethoven’s original, a “dialogue opera” as the composer herself describes her music-theatrical form. The many years’ study which Beethoven himself devoted to the subject and the form is simply re-thought here, making the content itself into a transitory object: the work begins with the second act, half of the work is shortened. “Where action takes place”, says the composer, “unusual interventions also have to be made and seemingly indispensable structures overridden.” The original (Beethoven) and the interpolations (Seither) thus follow each other in a new sequence, thereby opening a separate narrative thread which refers forwards and looks back at the same time: “Form is the present”, says Charlotte Seither: “Only when we do not know whether the end conceals a new beginning, or the beginning conceals a new end will we continue to do justice to the form of opera today.”
Together with the librettist and director Hermann Schneider, the composer places the emphasis on Leonore, whose disguise as a man in “Fidelio schweigt” has become obsolete. Leonore acts, she goes into the world and shapes it. The duplicity of Fidelio – the model of assuming a male pattern of behaviour – is thus finally overcome, it is silenced. And in the rest of the narrative, the core of the plot concentrates on the four main characters, whilst subsidiary roles have been omitted. “Where action takes place, then the familiar must also be let go, one also has to be able to name truth in clear language, even if that is sometimes very direct or can be hurtful” (Charlotte Seither).
“I decided”, says the composer, “to approach Beethoven’s method of composition with a sharp dissecting knife. In so doing I left his music in the original, but made clear vertical cuts into which I inserted my own music. It was important to me that both Beethoven’s original numbers as well as my music largely sounded ‘pure’, apart from the final conclusion. I rejected quotations, the anecdotal, and any kind of historicising artistic device.”
At the end of the dialogue opera there are various overwritings, the sound levels cross out each other at ever-shorter distances. “If you like, the form of the piece is an abstract replica on the discursive thinking in Beethoven’s late works; it therefore ends in the small, the contemporary, expected by no-one, in the here and now and perhaps nevertheless in a very personal form of utopia which continues to drive me on today” (Charlotte Seither).
Stephan Steinmetz/Charlotte Seither
(from [t]akte 1/2024 – translation: Elizabeth Robinson)
Miroslav Srnka’s new opera “Voice Killer” is based on a real criminal case
Conclusion of the Mahler-Scartazzini cycle with the premiere of “Einkehr” in Jena
Miroslav Srnka’s new opera “Voice Killer” is based on a real-life criminal case
Bärenreiter awarded a special prize at the renowned competition in Göttingen.
Bärenreiter Urtext prizes also awarded at the 13th International Telemann Competition
Bärenreiter donates special prizes at the International Piano Competition in Kronberg
Jan Čmejla, first prize recipient of this year’s Bach Competition receives the Bärenreiter Urtext Prize.
Beat Furrer’s opera “DAS GROSSE FEUER” based on Sara Gallardo’s novel “Eisejuaz” will premiere at Zurich Opera House on March 23, 2025
Siegbert Rampe, protagonist of Early Music, died on February 2, 2025
Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini adds “Enigma” to his cycle of works on Gustav Mahler’s symphonies.
SHOP
