Kontarsky is well regarded as a specialist in new music. Amongst other things, he conducted the world premieres of El Rey de Harlem by Hans Werner Henze (1982), Die Erschöpfung der Welt by Mauricio Kagel (1980),[1]Don Quijote de la Mancha by Hans Zender (1993), Sansibar by Eckehard Mayer (13 April 1994),[2] as well as the first German performance of the opera Die Wände by Adriana Hölszky, at the Frankfurt Opera, on 30 January 2000.[3][4][5] In 1988 he directed a well-regarded production in Stuttgart of the opera Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, a work he was previously involved with as co-repetiteur for the world premiere in 1965. This led to the second commercial recording of the work, released on CD in 1991.[6] He also conducted the French premiere of Die Soldaten in April 1994 at the Opéra-Bastille.[7] He is also the conductor on the first CD recording of Luigi Nono's opera Intolleranza 1960.[citation needed]
Kontarsky is the younger brother of the duo pianists Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, with whom he has occasionally appeared in a triple-piano ensemble.
References
Gronemeyer, Gisela. 1981. "Zu Hans Werner Henzes El rey de Harlem". Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 36, nos. 10–11 (October–November): 551–52.
Footnotes
^Herbort, Heinz Josef. 1980. "Lobpreis mit Schluckauf: Kagels Die Erschöpfung der Welt in Stuttgart". Die Zeit no. 8 (15 February).
^Horres, Kurt, Bernhard Kontarsky, Wolfgang Willaschek, and Eckehard Mayer. 1993. Sansibar [programme book]. Munich: Bayerische Staatsoper.