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An important legacy of the composer, conductor and artistic director Udo Zimmermann, who died in 2021, is the “Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik” (Dresden Days of Contemporary Music), which he founded in 1987. After the internationally renowned festival was successfully continued under new management from 2009 under the title “TONLAGEN – Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik”, the original title “Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik” (DTZM) will be used again for the first time from the 31st edition (19.04.-07.05.2023) for the festival, which is now held biennially.

As a prologue to the 31st edition of the festival, the German premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s music theatre “Music in the belly” in Simon Steen-Andersen’s adaptation was presented on 19 January 2023, followed on 24 March by the opening performance of the installative project “opera – a future game” by Michael v. zur Mühlen in the HYBRID Box and the Festspielhaus in Hellerau. From 19. April, the festival begins with further highlights such as portrait concerts of the composers Olga Neuwirth with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Annesley Black with ensemble courage, a concert by the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen with world premieres by Piyawat Louilarpprasert and Lothar Voigtländer, a new artwork by visual artist and composer Esmeralda Conde Ruiz in cooperation with Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden, a world premiere by Ole Hübner with Auditiv Vokal and a music theatre performance with the punk band Pisse at objekt klein a.

At the center of the 31st Dresden Contemporary Music Days is “Parasite Village”, a project by curator Elisabeth Erkelenz: a gathering of international artists such as Aida Shirazi, Yannis Kyriakides or Emre Dündar and ensembles such as Trickster Orchestra, Hezarfen Ensemble from Istanbul or Omnibus Ensemble from Tashkent. In cooperation with the Semper Opera and the Dresden University of Music, a symposium on the music theater of Aribert Reimann is planned, and another symposium will discuss the future of the international, experimental and independent scene of new music theater. As part of the DTZM Archive Project, which will be developed in cooperation with the Darmstadt Summer Courses and Ensemble Modern, among others, a classic of New Music can be experienced again in HELLERAU: Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich.

The 30th edition of DTzM took place in several parts due to COVID-19: the first period presented numerous new productions and positions mainly online from 11 April to 2 May 2021. After a second part in November 2021 with such diverse and exciting artists as Trond Reinholdtsen, Mariana Sadovska, Golnar Shahyar, Anna Korsun and the Trickster Orchestra, a third and final part followed in February 2022.

With the theme "Pause", these Dresden Contemporary Music Days 2021 focus on current artistic, political, social and ecological transformation processes and on the question of what functions contemporary music, artists and ensembles and such a festival can and should assume in the future.