This year marks the 275th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the 250th anniversary of the publication of his play Clavigo. The February masterclass of the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation at the Budapest Music Center was linked to this double anniversary, with the ultimate goal of creating a new contemporary chamber opera. Clavigo is the result of the Foundation’s last masterclass that was planned down to the smallest detail by Péter Eötvös, who sadly passed away in March. The scenes of the drama were set to music over the spring and summer months by four young composers: Aurélie Ferrière, Daniel Lee Chappell, Elias Frisk, and Daniele Di Virgilio, for string quartet and four vocal soloists, with the help of professors Gergely Vajda, Balázs Horváth and Robert HP Platz. The process will come to its conclusion in December: the Classicus Quartet, the vocal soloists and the four composers, under the direction of conductor Susanne Blumenthal, prepare for the chamber opera's concert premiere on 7 December at the Budapest Music Center, followed by a concert performance at the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin on 9 December.

This project is supported by Kunststiftung NRW and Collegium Hungaricum Berlin.