Chaya Czernowin's Witten Festival Retrospective Confronts Global Crises

The 2026 Witten Days for New Chamber Music in Germany's Ruhr Valley featured Israeli-born composer Chaya Czernowin as its central figure, with multiple concerts dedicated to her work. The festival, organized by West German Radio and running since 1969, included composers from 19 countries including Iran, Russia, Cuba, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea. Iranian composers Amen Feizabadi and Golfam Khayam were featured, with Khayam unable to attend and sending a message about music as a 'free bird who knows no border.' Russian composer Dmitri Kourliandski, who left Russia in 2022 after anti-war protests, presented his string quartet 'Partially Restored Landscapes.' Czernowin, born in Haifa in 1957 and trained at IRCAM and Darmstadt, presented several works including 'Seltene Erde' ('Rare Earth') for double-bass and ensemble, 'EZOV (Moss)' for string quartet, the chamber theatre piece 'The Red-Haired Man' based on Daniil Kharms' story, and 'No! A Lament for the Innocent' denouncing child casualties in conflicts. The latter work, begun during the first Trump administration focusing on US immigration policies and completed in 2024 addressing Israel's Gaza destruction, was performed by Sofia Jernberg and Keren Motseri with the WDR Symphony conducted by Yalda Zamani. Czernowin's next opera will be based on Thomas Mann's 'Der Erwählte' ('The Holy Sinner').