Rekord
A radio opera by Ludwig Abraham and the Ensemble Mocrep
Staging at 26th of July 2016 at the Säulenhalle Munich, live broadcast by M94.5
in cooperation with benninger.eberle, the Cultural Department Munich and the German Music Council
In April 2016, the Munich composer Ludwig Abraham and the American ensemble Mocrep in Chicago have prepared and premiered the radio opera “Rekord” with the support of the Goethe Institute and Radio Lumpen. Now the project comes to the Säulenhalle Munich, and is broadcasted live from the radio station M94.5.
The performance of the radio opera is often overlooked today, though it has an extraordinary history and unique features. She combines a concertante, theatrical performance with the direct production of a radio play . This is interesting not only because of the direct interaction between artists and the recording medium, but also because of the widely differing readings of one and the same performance that a visitor will have in the hall or on the radio receiver. These differences are particularly addressed and sought within the record: How far can you convey performative actions on the radio? What are the consequences of having an open microphone on stage? How well can you claim or even lie on air?
The ensemble for this piece consists of four musicians on stage and a narrator or disc jockey who is mainly heard in the radio broadcast and will act as a link between theatrical performance and audio play. The transatlantic collaboration is particularly interesting in terms of a radio opera, when considering an outstanding work of this genre: the Lindberghflug or later ocean flight and the fact that he was developed by Kurt Weill, Bert Brecht and Paul Hindemith, all born and effective artists in Germany who lived, at least temporarily, in the US and had an influence on the strength and quality of cultural feedback between Germany and North America.
The research for this piece focused on already existing artistic and pop cultural connections between the two countries, such as the still perceptible musical fingerprint of various refugee movements into the US – for example, from 1848 or during the Third Reich – or the nostalgic songs of to America returned GIs after the Second World War, but also the German appropriation of phenomena such as skateboarding or rock and the development of electronic dance music as a constant entertainment using records, tapes and digital media between Dusseldorf, Munich, Berlin, Chicago, Detroit or New York. Musical and performative scenes are supplemented by six biographies of people who coined or examined these connections, such as GI Gary Burger, singer and guitarist of the German based band The Monks.
In order to seriously test the outcome of the successful work in Chicago in April 2016 and to take account of the sometimes utopian appeal of historical funcopters – for example, Edgar Varèse’s idea of a worldwide live music theater with participants in several countries – the record will not not only be in the US, but also listed in Munich on 26 July 2016. The piece is not only partially translated back into German, but fundamentally revised.
The project is supported by the German Music Council and the Cultural Department Munich and will be broadcasted live by the radio station M94.5.
In particular to mention is the cooperation with Christian Eberle, CEO of benninger.eberle, agency for event marketing, who did not only provide the venue Säulenhalle, but also supported the event as a whole.
Date: 26th of July 2016, entry: 9.30pm, start: 10pm
location: Säulenhalle, Arnulfstr. 62, 80335 München
tickets: tickets@corporateartstillsucks.com
Mail: info@ludwigabraham.com
duration: 80 minues
airing: 60 minutes
Fon: 0171 5450 299
Web: www.ludwigabraham.com