Mathilde Wantenaar featured composer at the Presteigne Festival

https://vimeo.com/1088315035?fl=pl&fe=vl

This year, the Presteigne Festival, which takes place from 27-31 August 2026, will shine a spotlight on the music of Mathilde Wantenaar. Now in its 44th year, the Presteigne Festival has a unique place in the UK’s musical calendar. The Festival is widely acknowledged for its exceptional work in commissioning, performing and promoting new music and living composers, and has a strong tradition for supporting emergent artists in its programme. Its influence is felt artistically and economically throughout the Welsh Marches and beyond.

During the festival, four pieces by Wantenaar will be performed: Petit Morceau (performed by Fenella Humphreys and Clare Hammond), String Quartet no. 1 (performed by the HearAndNow Collective), the première of Variation on a melody by Prokofiev (performed by Fenella Humphreys and Jâms Coleman as part of a cycle of new works responding to Prokofiev’s Five Melodies) and Rhapsody for Piano and Strings (Jâms Coleman and Presteigne Festival Orchestra conducted by George Vass).

Click here for more information and tickets.

The Song of Koios premiered by The Netherlands Chamber Choir

As part of SNAAR, a festival about science and music, the Netherlands Chamber will premiere The Song of Koios, an evening-spanning, monumental new work. Fascinating figures such as Charles Darwin, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein take us on a journey through time. Central is humanity’s unstoppable scientific curiosity, with all its magnificent and terrible consequences. Because science brings about progress, but also destruction.

Koios from the title of Wantenaar’s work is a figure from Greek mythology. He is the Titan of intelligence and knowledge, and his name means ‘to ask questions’. Through images, words, and music, the Netherlands Chamber Choir with an ensemble portray humanity’s quest for knowledge and meaning. An adventurous journey of discovery into the secrets of creation, from the very beginning to perhaps the very last moment, the unknown end.

The Song of Koios will be performed on:

25 April, 21:30: TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht.

26 April, 15:00: PHIL, Haarlem.

30 April, 20:15: Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam.

24 May, 17:00: Oranjewoud Festival.

Tickets are available here.

On Friday 24 April, the Netherlands Chamber Choir will bring The Song of Koios to De Balie for an evening of debate, music, and speakers. Led by moderator Yoeri Albrecht, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Ineke Sluiter, and Mathilde Wantenaar will explore the themes of the new work.

Suite V performed in Carnegie Hall

Mathilde Wantenaar’s Suite V for solo cello is performed at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) on 14 April as part of Alisa Weilerstein's multi-year performance series FRAGMENTS. The project brings together new commissions by some of today's most compelling composers with the timeless beauty of J. S. Bach's six suites for solo cello. During Carnegie Hall's 2025–2026 season, Weilerstein presents FRAGMENTS 5, in which new works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Gabriella Smith, Gerard McBurney, Mathilde Wantenaar, and Osvaldo Golijov are woven together with Bach's Cello Suite No. 5, responsive lighting, and scenic architecture, inviting audiences into an immersive, multisensory experience.

Click here for more information about FRAGMENTS.