About the joy of musical creation: The Musikfest Berlin of the Berliner Festspiele, in co-operation with the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, is staging a total of 34 events from 28 August to 20 September together with international guest ensembles and Berlin orchestras. The focus will be on the late works of Igor Stravinsky, IN THE CONTEXT OF EARLY EUROPEAN MUSIC AND THE WORKS OF OUR TIME, works by ONDŘEJ ADÁMEK AND ANN CLEARE, Heiner Goebbels and Olga Neuwirth And Many Others.
When Igor Stravinsky died 50 years ago at age 88, the “Picasso of composers” left behind a lifework similar to that of the painter: filled with changes, appropriations and transformations, giving his time an unmistakable shape, provocative and extravagant, buoyed by the joy of musical creation (“plaisir de la création”) as he commented in the “Poetics of Music”. his late work was created in a dialogue between the music of the Renaissance, early Baroque and Middle Ages with the latest musical developments of his time. In his later years, the insular city of Venice was to become the centre of his creative and spiritual space of imagination.
The festival’s programme of the Musikfest Berlin 2021 goes back in time to the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, to Bach, Händel, Gesualdo, Gabrieli and Palestrina, and, continuing with Stravinsky’s interest, embraces the music of contemporary composers: new works by George Benjamin, Rebecca Saunders and Wolfgang Rihm to Clara Iannotta, Ondřej Adámek and Ann Cleare, including the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s musical calligrams “Keyframes for a Hippogriff” by the Berliner Philharmoniker and the German premiere of Lisa Streich’s “HIMMEL” by the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Ensemble Musikfabrik presents a portrait concert of the Irish composer Ann Cleare.
The Musikfest Berlin will begin on 30 August in the Main Concert Hall of the Philharmonie with the world premiere of the new work by Heiner Goebbels: “A House of Call. My imaginary Notebook” – an extraordinary “song recital” of acousmatic voices, dialogues, incantations, prayers, invocations, summons, speech acts and songs, collected by the composer over many years on his travels and from archives, now combined in a new work for the large Ensemble Modern Orchestra. Afterwards, this project will go on tour. The staged concert “Liberté d’action” by Heiner Goebbels, a production of the Théâtre National du Luxembourg, will be presented in the rbb Broadcasting Hall. Other events that expand the traditional concert format are: the interactive project “Night Shift” by Cathy Milliken, which will also go on tour after its premiere, and the world premiere of the joint production “Hoffmanns Erzählungen” by ARTE and Konzerthaus Berlin, based on the 1923 silent film of the same name by Max Neufeld and newly created music by Johannes Kalitzke.
Musikfest Berlin
30.8.2021 | Doors 19:00 CET | Starts 20:00 CET
Philharmonie Berlin Main Hall | Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1 | 10785 Berlin
berlinerfestspiele.de | Event @ Facebook
