To mark the 70th birthday of the publisher of Schott Music Dr. Peter Hanser-Strecker on 14 July 2012, Schott Music initiates the so-called 'Project Petrushka'. The aim of the project is to create new repertoire and make the wide range of contemporary compositions accessible to a worldwide audience by means of new media as well.

Shott Music has invited 70 international composers to write a short dance for piano solo (as a birthday present to the publisher). The pieces are approximately 210 seconds (3 minutes) and have 'Dances of Our Time' as their motto. 

In June and in July 2012 there will be a concert each in Mainz, New York, London and in Beijing. At each of the four concerts, a selection at the 'Dances of our Time' will be premiered and live recorded (video and sound). Mainz, New York, London and Beijing have to find one or two pianists to play the pieces. From 14 July 2012 the recordings of the performances will be presented worldwide on the Internet (YouTube, Schott official website, www.petrushka-project.com).

Schott Music will print all 70 compositions in a nice collection (printed edition, author-publisher agreements and author's share in accordance with the usual arrangements with the respective author or with Schott standards). Moreover, Schott Music will distribute each Petrushka-piece as download via notafina.

Concert in Beijing:

In the evening of 14th June the celebrate concert of Project 'Petrushka' will be hold in Beijing. The pianist XU Man will play ten pieces of the master composer of Schott Music, including the highly expressive music from a genius pianist, GONG Tianpeng and a newly composed masterpiece from Prof. YE Xiaogang.

Programm of the Concert in Beijing:

Theme                                                                    Composer

Petrushka’s Birthday Dance                                         Peng-Peng Gong

A taste for memories                                                    Gerd Natschinski

Klavierstuck Nr.1                                                           Manfred Schoof

Little Scherzo                                                                  Karel Husa

Jade                                                                              Jurgen Moser

Zwei Schritte vor, ein Schritt zurück                                Peter Michael Hamel

Dance of the White Horse                                                   Qi Zhang

Nuo dance                                                                          Jing Zhou

„Schott“– isches Volkslied                                         Herbert Rosendorfer

A happy little horse – for piano, Op.66                               Xiaogang Ye

Pianist: Man XU

Time: 19:30 June 14, 2012

Venue: RM 1001, teaching building, Central Conservatory of Music

Presenter: Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG

Co-organizer: Beijing Eurovista Arts Promotion Co., Ltd.