Chaya Czernowin to Headline 2026 Witten Festival

Israeli composer Chaya Czernowin will be the central focus of the 2026 Witten Festival for New Chamber Music, held from April 24th to 26th. The festival will showcase five pieces by Czernowin, including two world premieres, highlighting her significant contribution to contemporary music and exploring the political dimensions of the act of composition.

Czernowin’s Residency and New Work

Born in Israel in the late 1950s and currently residing in Boston, Czernowin began composing at the age of 17. She studied at Tel Aviv University before continuing her education in the United States, at San Diego, under the tutelage of Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds. The Wittener Tage festival will feature her latest work, The Redheaded Man, a music theater piece commissioned by the festival and the hand werk Ensemble.

The Redheaded Man, subtitled “…and then I realized that I am the world, but the world is not me,” is based on a text by Russian writer Daniil Kharms from his The Blue Notebook. Czernowin herself directs this production, which involves the six members of the hand werk Ensemble, who function as both instrumentalists (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and keyboard) and actors, accompanied by electronic elements. The piece is described as an absurdist theater work, and Czernowin views it as an indirect response to the events of October 7, 2023.

hand werk Ensemble and Collaborative Performances

The hand werk Ensemble, founded in 2011, is a German ensemble that prioritizes craftsmanship and the quality of performance. The Redheaded Man will premiere on April 24th and 26th at the Witten Festival. Further performances are scheduled for September 11th in Cologne, October 1st at Miller Theater in New York City, and during a weekend of November 13th-15th at the Weit Festival, also within the framework of Czernowin’s residency.

The production features Julio Zúñiga as the sound designer and computer music specialist, responsible for sampler design and implementation, and will include amplification for each performer using headset microphones and DPA microphones.

Additional Works and Festival Programming

Beyond The Redheaded Man, the Wittener Tage will also present other compositions by Czernowin. A new work, REOPEN, for the Aleph Guitar Quartet and SWR Vokalensemble (24 voices, 4 amplified acoustic guitars), commissioned by the Siemens Stiftung, Aleph quartet, and SWR Vocal ensemble, will also be performed. This piece is based on a text by Emily Dickinson and explores the themes of existence and erasure.

The festival, organized jointly by WDR 3 and the Kulturforum Witten, will partially broadcast live on WDR 3. The programming includes premieres by Isabel Mundry and Márton Illés, alongside Czernowin’s work. WDR 3 will broadcast the festival from April 24th to 26th, offering concert dates, ticket information, and selected concerts available for on-demand listening.

The festival’s programming also includes performances featuring vocalist Begüm Aslan with a contrabass, exploring themes of memory, ritual, and energy.