The Treasure Hunt with Bas Wiegers

In this episode of The Treasure Hunt, Bas visits composer Vito Žuraj at his home in Slovenia. Together, they reflect on their ongoing collaborations and dive into Žuraj’s creative process - from experimental works involving chefs and theatrical soprano pieces to his upcoming violin concerto for Isabelle Faust. Žuraj shares how ideas emerge through a balance of playful exploration and focused execu...

This time, Bas sits down with the extraordinary musician Patricia Kopatchinskaja - someone who refuses to stay in any box. They talk about why we play the music we play, how to stay curious in a world that prefers certainty, and what it really means to find truth inside a piece of music. Patricia shares why she'd rather ask WHY than play it safe, how working with living composers keeps music alive...

In this second of two episodes about De Materie (Matter) by Louis Andriessen, fellow composer David Dramm reflects on his close relationship with Andriessen and the creation of De Materie. He describes witnessing the piece’s early development, studying with Andriessen, and experiencing the premiere of De Materie in 1989 up close. Together with host Bas Wiegers, he explores the work’s signature ele...

In the first of two episodes on De Materie, we explore Louis Andriessen’s groundbreaking masterpiece with biographer Jacqueline Oskamp. We trace the influences behind this pivotal work - from the pressure of Andriessen’s earlier successes to the political and musical ideals that shaped his 1980s style. The episode highlights the piece’s structure, its bold musical logic, and the key collaborations...

Conductor Bas Wiegers interviews composer Márton Illés after two intense days recording Illes' new cello concerto with Nicolas Altstaedt and the Münchener Kammerorchester at the Bayerische Rundfunk.  They discuss finding a personal compositional language, balancing freedom and structure, the physical and acoustic reality of sound, use of electronics, and how collaboration and selflessness shape co...

I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time.    Links...

Today I'm spending some time with the 93 year old Theo Loevendie, one of the first living composers I worked with as a student. I'm coming back to his music after 25 years, to prepare two concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. We speak about his youth, his influences, and about the two works I'm preparing: Flexio for orchestra and Six Turkish Folk Poems for singer and orchestra.   Here's info...

I have a chat with Rebecca Saunders, who works very closely with musicians to find the sounds she loves. We speak about the new piece (Skull) which we have just premiered at the Achtbrücken Festival, but also about other pieces and musicians who have inspired her.    I’ve woven small fragments of her music into the episode. If you want to have a proper listen to the entire pieces, the links are be...

For this episode, I spoke with Johanna Zimmer, a wonderful soprano I had the joy of working with many times. She works as a soloist, as a chamber musician, in the choir, in opera. We speak about this versatility and why she needs it in her life. We speak about words in music and how important they are for us as musicians. At the moment, we are working with the SWR Vokalensemble on a program with m...

For this episode, I spoke with Enno Poppe. At the moment of recording, I am doing his piece Speicher with Klangforum Wien. We speak about deciding what ideas you want to put in a piece, Enno's love of idiomatic material and his close relationship to players, which is so important for the way he writes. We speak about the different roles we can have: in the case of Enno, he is not only a composer,...

In this episode, I try to describe the process of getting to know a composer I haven't worked with before. To my great joy, I finally get to work with Chaya Czernowin. I try to explain how I get into her music, I speak to her about the music, and we listen to some inspiring musicians playing her music. 

In this episode, I try to share how I fell in love with Joseph Haydn. It's a shout out to my former theory teachers!  I'm preparing two of his symphonies (38 and 101) for a concert with the Münchener Kammerorchester, and studying and rehearsing these works is so exciting and refreshing. Why does Haydn inspire me so much? And how can we keep discovering his music over and over again?  Here are link...

A chat with composer and good friend Trevor Grahl about taste and fashion in music, the pressure to follow this fashion, and the journey to to find your own voice.  Links to the pieces:  Kapote https://youtu.be/ZXs8Q6UYANU Sterre Konijn, voice Jurjen Hempel, conductor RKST21   Dreams of Machines:  https://youtu.be/4RtBrQG6hnw Brno Contemporary Orchestra, Pavel Šnajdr, conductor Wolfgang Heisig, pi...

In this episode, I speak with the great composer Georg Friedrich Haas. I try find out what he has to say about "interpretation", this space between what a composer writes down and what a musician makes of it. We speak about communicating your ideas with an orchestra, teaching young composers and writing for Austrian brass bands. 

I have the magnificent Mollena Lee Williams Haas as my guest. We speak about the opera Sycorax and its characters. About women in opera, people of color in opera, and generally about how to make stories that translate to as many people as possible. About opera as a way to make people see what life is. Also, about Georg Friedrich Haas, and about our previous collaboration in Mollena’s and GF’s join...

Discovering the building stones of Sycorax, the new opera by Georg Friedrich Haas. We hear some Haas, some Grisey, some Vivier, some Tibetan throat singers, and a wonderful Jubilate.    G.F. Haas - Limited Approximations - SWR Sinfonieorchester and Sylvain Cambreling  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoqvGLdjUhE&t=1540s Gérard Grisey - Partiels - Asko Ensemble and Stefan Asbury https://www.youtube....

The Treasure Hunt, a personal account by conductor Bas Wiegers about how a musical score functions as a treasure map and leads to a concert. Also an upbeat to the next episode, where I will tell you more about Sycorax, a new opera by Georg Friedrich Haas, opening at the Bern opera house in September 2022.    Mirela Ivicevic - Black Moon Lilith - RSB Berlin, Bas Wiegers  https://www.youtube.com/wat...