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2026/06/14

REMEMBER. JAMES SAUNDERS. 1946-1996-2026

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum / Stiftersaal Obenmarspforten 40 50667 Köln

More information.

Programm
- Iannis Xenakis - Rebonds B (2007) für Schlagzeug solo
- Julius Eastman - Buddha (1983) neue Fassung für 8 Instrumente
- Christopher Cerrone - New Addresses (2020) für Flöte, Bassklarinette, Violine, Violoncello
- Maria de Alvear - Im Kern V (2023) für Klaviertrio
- Claude Vivier - Pulau Dewata (1977)
- Iannis Xenakis - Rebonds A (2007) für Schlagzeug solo
*Pause *
Film »EYE«

BAUM

Restaging of “BAUM (2000)” by Maria de Alvear & Drums Off Chaos with Cora Schmeiser and Drums Off Chaos – 25 years later

Sunday, June 7th, 2026, 20.00 h In Situ Art Society Dialograum Kreuzung an St.Helena, Am Lenkert 9, 53177 Bonn, Germany

Tuesday, June 9th, 2026, 22.00 h  Romanischer Sommer Maria Lyskirchen, An Lyskirchen 10, 50676 Cologne, Germany Live radio recording by WDR.

Friday, September 25th, 2026, (tba) Düsseldorf Festival Maxhaus, Schulstraße 11, 40213 Düsseldorf

Supported by: Kunststiftung NRW and Kulturamt der Stadt Köln.

As part of the first Grand Hommage to Helga de Alvear, the Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear (Cáceres, Spain) will present a concert entitled Hommage to Helga on September 20, 2025. The program will feature the premiere of A otra cosa (2025), a composition by Maria de Alvear dedicated to her mother, performed by pianist Juan Carlos Garvayo in the museum’s gardens.

For further information ..

2025/08/01

On September 1, 2025, the concert series Ritual in Cologne (Germany) will dedicate a monographic evening to the music of Maria. For this occasion, Ritual has commissioned a new piece from Maria, which will be premiered that evening alongside other recent compositions from the years 2020 to 2025, performed by the Cologne-based ensemble hand werk

Further information..

2025/07/10

On March 5, 2024, the Cologne-based ensemble hand werk will perform three works in Cologne (Germany) by Maria de Alvear, including a world premiere in a concert dedicated to Maria's colleague and friend Udo Moll, who died far too young.

Further information ..

2024/02/24

The March Foundation (Madrid) has just released a new episode of its Contemporánea podcast series (Episode #25), dedicated to Maria de Alvear.

Click here to listen

2022/10/11

Maria de Alvears latest composition for Brass Quintet, Im Kern III, will be performed (again) by Spanish Brass. The concert will take place on October 15th at the Fundación BBVA in Madrid. More information:

https://www.contrapunto-fbbva.es/eventos/musica-contemporanea-para-quinteto-de-metales/

2022/09/08

Another new composition by Maria de Alvear gets its first performance! The piece is called ¡AMOR COTIDIANO! and will be performed on the 9th September In Berlin at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and on the 10th September in Leipzig at the Mendelssohn-Haus.

More information here:

https://www.iai.spk-berlin.de/no_cache/veranstaltungen/veranstaltungsprogramm/veranstaltung/1351.htm

https://www.mendelssohn-stiftung.de/de/konzerte/225

2022/05/03

A new radio portrait about Maria, produced by Rainer Nonnenmann, will be broadcast on May 26th by Hessischer Rundfunk HR2 radio.

Here is the link:
https://www.hr2.de/programm/klassik-oper/die-macht-der-musik-von-maria-de-alvear,epg-neue-musik-314.html

2022/04/28

and another first performance of a new work by Maria de Alvear: next Saturday, April 30th, in Magdeburg.
The Ensemble Junge Musik Sachsen-Anhalt plays Freisetzen II

https://www.gesellschaftshaus-magdeburg.de/veranstaltungen/details/di-omaggio-1672-1992-2022.html

2022/03/08

This week in Innsbruck (Austria): First performance of Maria de Alvears latest big composition for orchestra and video projection: AHNEN II

The concert will take place on March 10th at the Haus der Musik. More information here:
https://www.haus-der-musik-innsbruck.at/veranstaltung/screen-score-ahnen-11-03-22/

01/24/2022

Musicologist and author Dr Egbert Hiller (who happens to be also the publisher of the fantastic book about Maria) produced a captivating radio feature about ritual and magical practice in contemporary music. The broadcast features music and interviews by and with Maria de Alvear, Raven Chacon and Yannis Kyriakides. Listen here:

https://www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/idee-und-ritual-kultische-und-magische-handlungen-in-neuer-musik-swr2-jetztmusik-2022-01-25-100.html

News Archive

Biography

Maria de Alvear was born in Madrid and moved to Cologne (Germany) in 1982 to begin her music studies.

She was awarded the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize of the City of Cologne early on in her career, and studied New Music Theatre under Mauricio Kagel. Since 1998, she has collaborated regularly with video artists, both with her sister Ana de Alvear and the British artist Isaac Julien. In the same year, she founded the music publishing house WORLD EDITION. Since 2003, she has been publishing the journal „KUNSTMUSIK - Writings on art as music“. Her works, which are mostly interdisciplinary and make use of a variety of media, are performed worldwide by many well-known interpreters, such as Ensemble Modern, the Basel Sinfonietta, Ensemble Musikfabrik and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester). She works together with numerous soloists, orchestras and ensembles across the world.

She has given many concerts in Europe, the USA and Canada at a number of prestigious venues, including the Glenn Gould Concert Hall, Toronto, the Lincoln Center, New York, the Donaueschingen Festival, the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, the Hellerau Festival Theatre, the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. Numerous performances of her works have been recorded for TV and radio broadcasts, including by SWR, WDR, Arte and CBC/Radio Canada.

In 2014 Maria de Alvear was awarded the Spanish National Prize for Music in the composition category. The official award ceremony by King Felipe VI and Queen Leticia of Spain took place on June 1, 2016 in the Cathedral of Palencia. She also has been accepted as a new member in the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (AWK) since 2017.

Maria lives in Madrid (Spain) since 2021.