This is (not) America
THIS IS (NOT) AMERICA (29.12.2024)
Concert Evening with the Ensemble
America, you have it better/Than our continent, the old,/Have no decaying castles/And no basalts./You are not disturbed on the inside,/In vibrant time,/Useless remembering/And futile argument./Use the present with joy!
As optimistic as Goethe when he wrote about the "young continent," willfully ignoring the non-European shaped prehistory, we can no longer look at the USA in the 21st century. The country is too torn, too contradictory, too burdened with problems and guilt - and yet it still has magnetic appeal. And despite all the love-hate, it is undeniable: There is fantastic music in America ...
With Isabella Campestrini / Vivienne Causemann / Rebecca Hammermüller / Luzian Hirzel / Maria Lisa Huber / Johannes Moosbrugger / Nico Raschner / Marcello Girardelli / Martin Grabher / Oliver Rath / Citizens' Choir of the Vorarlberger Landestheater
Musical Direction: Oliver Rath / Citizens' Choir Direction: Agnes Kitzler / Lighting: Simon Tamerl
WEEPING SONGS (10.10.2024 & 29.01.2025)
Music and Poetry. About Love and Death.
With WEEPING SONGS we juxtapose the lyrical narrative form of the ballad with the melancholic and poignant songs of the exceptional musician and songwriter Nick Cave.
Cave, whose life has never been short of personal depths and strokes of fate, tells much about human abysses with his music and lyrics - but also much love and hope can be felt in the work of the Australian raised in the faith of the Anglican Church.
The touching lyrics and the intense atmosphere of Cave’s songs, whose work can no longer be imagined without the canon of pop; the narrative depth and emotional power of ballads, which occupy a prominent place in our collective literary memory; stories of desire and loss, pain and yearning: This combination promises an evening of ballads full of emotional depth and dramatic poetry.
With Rebecca Hammermüller / Maria Lisa Huber / Rolf Mautz / Nico Raschner
Live Music: Oliver Rath / Yenisey Rodriguez Rodriguez / Aris Kapagiannidis / Musical Direction: Oliver Rath / Staging: Stephanie Gräve / Stage and Costume: Luisa Costales Pérez-Enciso / Lighting: Simon Tamerl
No Penny, BRECHT! (23.02.2025)
Ernst Kurt Weigel with Tamara Stern
Expelled from the Nazi regime, constantly on the run, a small group of artists traveled around the world. Always keeping an eye on political events, they worked together on what are probably the most famous political plays in the world. Always critically examining the conditions, always warning against the worst, always opposing the abuse of power! But after all the years, back in post-war Germany, only one poet's name remained: Bert Brecht!
What was it about the famous Brecht, that many women fell for him, were professionally exploited by him and never complained about it, at least not publicly? Many books have been written about this, wild speculations raised.
In our tragic-comic satire "No Penny, Brecht!" neither the women nor the master of epic theater will be shortchanged.
The intention of this evening is to give a voice to these women who have always stood in the shadow of Brecht.
Based on the literary portraits "Brecht's Women" by Hiltrud Häntzschel, the author/director Weigel developed the basic dramaturgical structure of this evening together with the actress Stern and the text's foundation.
Musically, we follow the great "Threepenny Songs," as well as those from the subsequent work "Happy End".
In a humorous manner, the evening tells from the perspective of the "Unknown," a fictional female figure who embodies the fates of all Brecht women, how she once fell under the irresistible spell of the great genius, lived with him but also managed to break away from him. Interwoven in between, she delivers the most famous songs from the Threepenny Opera, accompanied by contemporary soundscapes from the Austrian electronic musicians and composers Imre LB and Moritz Wallmüller.
Supported by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Public Service and Sport and the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria.
With Tamara Stern
Direction: Ernst Kurt Weigel / Sound Arrangements: Imre Lichtenberger Bozoki / Moritz Wallmüller / Live Music: Elise Mory / Visuals: Eni Brandner / Costume: Devi Saha
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
