News

Sven is performing with acclaimed Manchester Camerata again on October 9th.
This time at impressive 600 years old Manchester Cathedral.
Together with the chamber orchestra, he will interrogate the ghosts of history with electronic improvisations inspired by Mozart's Gran Partita and determine the impact of his legacy in 2019.

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Sven is nominated for the prestigious price in 6 categories for his work Tres Momentos:
- Composer of the year
- Best recording of 20/21st century's music
- Best premier recording
- Best concert recording
- Best instrumentalist Electronica
- Classic without borders

Opus Klassik

For its 2019 festival commission the Dresden Music Festival had the intriguing idea of commissioning a concerto from not one but three composers, spanning three different continents: Nico Muhly (USA), Zhou Long (China) and Sven.
The premiere perfomance today, with Jan Vogler on solo cello has been enthusiastically recieved.
Jan Vogler made a terrific champion for the piece, acting as the focus for the entire work. Robert Hugill

Review Planet Hugill
Freihe Presse (German)

Sven has been awarded with the Golden Stage Cross of Lithuania.
The prestigious award by the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania is honoring exceptional contributions to the Lithuanian theater and is the highest cultural decoration of the country.
Sven composed the music for the contemporary dance piece My Peter Pan, produced by Seiko Dance Company, choreographed and directed by its founder Agnija Seiko.

World renowned solo cellist Jan Vogler comissioned a new cello concerto to three of his favorite composers. Nico Muhly (USA), Zhou Long (China) and Sven will write one movement each for this piece, spanning three continents. Jan Vogler will premier it with WDR Symphony Orchestra under Cristian Macelaru at Dresden Music Festival on May 18th 2019.

Jan Vogler
Cristian Macelaru
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Planet Hugill

Tres Momentos, Sven's new piece for string orchestra and electronics will be released digitally on August 10th followed by a 10" Vinyl in September.
The live recording of the concert with Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin will appear on the Neue Meister label.
Colombian puppeteer Omayra Martinez Garzon produced the music video for El Tercer Momento.
With the cover artwork, Sven Helbig quotes the 3,000-year-old Chinese oracle of I Ching.
Cover artwork by Ulrike Heise

Review / A Closer Listen
Review / Drowned in Sound
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Inheritors is a new film installation by British/Canadian artist fimmakers Webb-Ellis. It will feature an immersive soundtrack by Sven. The installation will be shown from today in London at Siobhan Davies Studios, presented as part of the on-going Traces Commission visual arts programme. Inheritors is contemplating coexistence in the contemporary world. Set on the motorways of Britain and Europe, the film takes this ubiquitous landscape as a space from which to question deeply held myths relating to human-beings and evolution.

Trailer
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Today sees the premiere of Sven's recent composition for electronics and 4 celli. The work has been a commission by Lithuanian dance company Padi Dapi Fish and is a new production of the fairy tale Peter Pan for contemporary dance, choreographed by Lithuanian artist Agnija Seiko.

Padi Dapi Fish

Sven just premiered new stage music at DNT Deutsches National Theater in Weimar: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's Nathan the Wise is another collaboration with director Hasko Weber and stage designer Thilo Reuther.
The classic play, more relevant than ever, received enthusiastic reviews after its premiere last week. 

Dates and tickets
Review (German)
Photo by Volker Beinhorn

Sven is invited to be composer in residence in May in Tallin.
He will perform his choir work I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain, the orchestra cycle Pocket Symphonies and the chamber work Tres Momentos at conductor Kristjan Järvi's festival Practical Spirituality. The festival is part of the festivities for the 100th anniversary of the republic of Estonia.

May 22 – I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain
May 24 – Pocket Symphonies

Sven is ending this concert season with a performance of I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain at Munichs renowned Gasteig. The Young Chamber Choir Lucente will join him on stage for the last show of this year after being enthusiastically celebrated all over Europe, the US, Latinamerica and UK.
The concert season 2018 will be announced soon.

Concert info at Gasteig

Sven will play one concert in St. Petersburg at famous Alexandrinsky Theater, as part of the Elektro Mechanika Festival today.
Together with Russian chamber choir Lauda, he performs I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain under direction of Marina Kireeva.

Interview (Russian)

Sven will premier a new piece for string orchestra and electronics at Neue Meister Concerts in Berlin on November 6th.
The sixth Neue Meister Concert once again brings important representatives of Modern Classical Music together on stage. In partnership with the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Neue Meister presents 4 musicians of a new musical era who have their homes between classic, electronic and pop.

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Sven will perform a unique project with renowned Manchester Camerata on September 9th. Artist filmmaker Chris Paul Daniels provides an exhilarating live video performance to compliment Sven's music. Sven is performing some brand new Electronica and special versions of Pocket Symphonies.
The project will be shown at the extraordinary art center HOME in Manchester.

Chris Paul Daniels
HOME Manchester
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Sven is honored to be Composer in Residence for the 25th anniversary of the Moritzburg Festival. Under the direction of the cellist Jan Vogler, it is one of the most important chamber music festivals in the world. Some of the most exciting musicians will play Sven`s chamber music including a new string quartet:
Arabella Steinbacher, Tobias Feldmann, Mira Wang (Violine)
Lawrence Power, Ruth Killius, Hwayoon Lee (Viola)
Jan Vogler (Cello)
Lise de la Salle , Lucille Chung (Piano)
The Festival is running from August 5th until August 20th.

Program and tickets
Review (German)

Sven will be the keynote speaker at the Beyond Humanism Conference in Rome this week. 150 leading philosophers and scientists from all over the world will discuss the future of mankind, the state of humanism and posthumanist concepts for 5 days at the John Cabot University. Head of the conference is Prof. Dr. Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, who reflects on Sven's work in some of his books about posthumanism in todays art.
Sven is a member of the Beyond Humanism Network.

Program

Sven starts his own weekly radio program Schöne Töne on Radio 1/Berlin. The show will be broadcasted every Thursday from 11 pm to 1 am, starting on May 4th. It will also be streamed on Radio 1's website.
Sven will play multi-genre music that he likes with a focus on modern classical ideas.

Schöne Töne
Radio 1 Stream (upper right side)

Sven is once again collaborating with the National University San Martin of Buenos Aires. Together with rector Carlos Ruta, he is holding a speech at the university about modern Humanism in Art. 
His choir work I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain will be performed by Sven and Ensemble Vocal Contemporáneo del DAMus at Centro de las Artes in a special UNSAM production. The concert will be conducted by Kristjan Järvi.
In 2013, Sven received the prestigious ‘Maestro’ title by the University and regularly returns to Buenos Aires for collaborating projects.