Staged join-in & hands-on project for children between 4 and 9 years
Someone stole the mouthpiece of one of Mr Adolphe Sax’s saxophones in Belgium. The children help him find the mouthpiece again. On the steamer »Saxiff« with its captain Bariella Barisax, they embark on a voyage taking them through Argentina, to the USA and then to Norway.
In Argentina they get to know Tango and Mr Piazolla, in the USA there is Gershwin music supported by the children with many different rhythm instruments, and in Norway the children are amazed by the Northern Lights and dance the Elfin Dance with Edvard Grieg.

The English ensemble “Apollo’s Cabinet” celebrates a birthday party for King Frederic the Great, together with 6th form students. Things are getting quite lively there. Not only with the surprising variations of “Hoch soll er leben” (Long may he live), accompanied by the ensemble in its cheery and cheeky manner. What starts gracefully with Baroque dances then changves to dancing more reminiscent of ABBA. A mysterious canon has to be deciphered, and children will create their own compositions with the help of dice, then presenting them on stage together with the ensemble.

A first great love, plans for the future, growing up – and suddenly a brutal break and flight. That was the reality of Ruth Schönthal when she was 14 years old. The composer is the focus of a 2-day workshop for the music courses of 11th forms. Formerly feted as a child prodigy in Berlin, she had to flee Nazi Germany when she was just 14. On the stations of her flight she took up many musical impressions and worked them into her compositions. Finally, she came to the attention of Paul Hindemith who brought her to the USA as his student. She became a successful composer and a professor teaching in New York. Together with the KLUSA Duo, 11th form music course students will take a close look at the biography and the compositions of this extraordinary woman.

KLUSA Duo
Kathrin von Kieseritzky, saxophone & Luisa Sereina Splett, piano

»Babel in Motion« is a participatory composition project. The initiative aims at using creative musical processes in a combination of composition, improvisation and musical joint sessions to strengthen the participation of people with diverse cultural, migrant and international biographies, to promote self-efficacy, and to develop ways of using sounds to deal with topics such as heteronomy.

asambura ensemble
Ronas Sheikhmous Duduk, ney & Kurdish flute bilûr · Kea Niedoba, voice · Chisom Uche Okoli, voice · Ehsan Ebrahimi composer & santur player · Daniel Seminara, lute · Justus Czaske, bass clarinet

»Together with the children we want to develop a performance which reflects both the beauty and the vulnerability of sea creatures. It is important to us that we will be able to integrate all impulses and contributions coming from the pupils, whether music, movement or text. This will result in a unique work of art which will not only be performed musically, but which will give a comprehensive stage experience for all senses.«

duo energico
Tabea Wink & Marie Erndl, recorders · Jonas Weber, director

concert film full version on YouTube

In »If I Was a Little Bird …« ensemble feuervogel together with the children immerse themselves in the world of birds.  At the entrance, a magic feather transforms all visitors into birds, and then in various stages of this hands-on concert, they build their own nests, fly and, of course, chirp. The figure of the firebird and its opposite and friend, the sleepy bear, guide through the programme together.

ensemble feuervogel
Nura Natour, Mathis Wolfer, Tabea Popien & Felix Schlenker, recorder consort · Min-Tzu Lee, percussion

concert film full version on YouTube