Peter Ruzicka, Künstlerische Leitung

Two decades ago, Hans Werner Henze organized and initiated the Munich Biennale in collaboration with the City of Munich, the capital city of Bavaria. This festival is unique worldwide, presenting world premieres of new operas – usually the very first works in this field by young composers - and an accompanying extensive program of related concerts, symposiums and discussions with the composers. Presentations, reflections and discussions are all an integral part of this laboratory for new music theatre. I was asked to take over the responsibility for this festival in 1996, and Hans Werner Henze and I organized the fifth Biennale together.

The subsequent years were marked by budget cuts everywhere and often drastic reductions in municipal budgets for culture. For this reason high praise is due for the City of Munich and our private partners for sticking with the Biennale and for continuing to stand by it. The international quality of the festival was important to us from the beginning, long before general discussions started on globalization – international especially in regard to the composers, librettists and interpreters, whom we invite; in regard to the multifarious cultural traditions that provided the impulses here for a new modernity; and also in regard to the cooperations, which guarantee that the works presented here will be performed elsewhere and guarantee that the festival will enjoy widespread publicity in the press and media.

Peter Ruzicka

1 March 2010

Today, on March, 1, the ticket sales start for the 12th Munich Biennale 2010, via München Ticket and all known booking offices.

12 January 2010

On 10 March 2010 at 8 p.m. in the Black Box/ Gasteig the series „Klangspuren plus“ will be continued. In this discussion concert, moderated by Peter Ruzicka, the composer Arnulf Herrmann will be presented.