Following numerous performances of the work throughout Europe since the Proms premiere in 1999, HK Gruber’s Aerial was conducted by the composer himself in Hamburg at the beginning of March (Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg). Hakan Hardenberger, for whom it was written, was the virtuosic trumpet soloist. The two will also perform the work together in Melbourne in May, where Gruber is featured at the Melbourne Symphony’s contemporary music festival. Earlier this season Gruber sang his popular Frankenstein!! with contemporary ensembles in Chicago and Milwaukee, conducted an all-Weill programme with the Iceland Symphony, and directed staged performances of Die Dreigroschenoper at Rome’s Santa Cecilia with Ensemble Modern. In April he conducts New York’s innovative Eos Orchestra (their first ever guest-conductor) in a programme including his violin concerto Nebelsteinmusik with soloist Kurt Nikkanen. “Gruber’s textures are always pleasing. For pages at a time he spins the most elaborate web of sound, extraordinarily intricate and utterly compelling, and the BBCSO under Leonard Slatkin made an impressive job of realising it.” (The Times, reviewing a performance of Aerial at the Barbican in February 2001)