Calendar 2024

What are days for? To wake us up. To put between the endless nights. What are the nights for? To slip through time into another world.
-- Laurie Anderson

Under a waning half-moon and the watchful eyes of the river guards, six boats glide through twilight into darkness. Their illuminating lanterns cast shadows onto the water's surface and the reedy riverbanks; the night air is filled with the sweet sound of baroque music.

Every boat hosts a different ensemble. Together, they illustrate the musical depth and range of the European Baroque era. At certain points, they come to rest, inviting the audience to hear them up close. They can be heard from the riverbanks, the ports and locks or, in another boat, from on the river itself.

With the ensembles Arc of Iris, Los Temperamentos, Hanseatische Barockmusik, Concerto delle Donne (dir. by Julie Comparini), students of Prof. Hille Perl (Viola da gamba) at the Hochschule für Künste, music for historical brass ensemble and the "Stelzensippe" from the Kulturladen Huchting.
Concept and mise-en-scène: Peter Schenk

Saturday, September 14, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
Torfhafen Findorff, Bremen
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Locomotive Breath
Musical revue of workers' songs and work songs

Manja Stephan, Katy aus dem Spring, Julie Comparini, Evelyn Gramel, vocals
Erik Blumenthal, guitars
Matthias Entrup, drums
Bremer Kaffeehaus-Orchester
Directed by Peter Schenk
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Come along on a musical bicycle tour that brings hidden gems of baroque music into the fresh air and pastoral landscapes of northern Bremen. Most of the mini-concerts are inside structures, so that the tour can be enjoyed by rain or shine. The journey ends with a concert in the "Wasserschloss", where drinks and refreshments will be available.

Featurung Arc of Iris, the Weckmann Consort, Vokalensemble Concerto delle Donne (dir. Julie Comparini), "Kafkas Schwester" (Diana Gaede) and Ireneusz Manuszewski (piano)
Concept and scenic direction: Peter Schenk

Sunday, September 1, starting at 3:00 pm at the Bremen-Burg train station
Online registration: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
Produced and supported by BIKE IT! Bremen
More information (in German) here

Founded by the Bremer Literaturkontor and the chamber music ensemble Konsonanz, LauschOrte is an immersive public project that illustrates places of historical interest in Bremen with music and literature by local writers and artists. Seventeen different locations in the city centre offer an opportunity to hear (via QR code) readings of texts underlaid with baroque, classical and rock music, jazz or electronic beats. Each text explores the historical significance of its associated building or monument, giving listeners a multi-faceted and contemporary experience of historal locations.

All seventeen texts can be heard in the original German or an English translation, professionally recorded by German- or English-speaking actors, and can be heard on the LauschOrte website as well as on location.

Julie Comparini reads the English version of Laura Müller-Hennig's text Bücherverbrennung (Book Burning) in the central Bremen public library and translated Antonia Bontscheva's text Berliner Mauerstück (A Piece of the Berlin Wall) into English.

The ten newest LauschOrt locations, including the public library, will be introduced to the public on June 25, 2024 at 2:00 pm in the Wallforum of the central public library in Bremen.

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Florentina Holzinger's new work SANCTA opens with Paul Hindemith's one-act opera Sancta Susanna, in which a nun is brutally punished for expressing sexual agency. In the Holy Mass that follows, Bach, Rachmaninov, Metal, Noise and new compositions meet in a musical tour de force that explores the magic and wonder, violence and sacrifice in the Christian church and its rituals.

With music by von Paul Hindemith, Johanna Doderer, Born in Flamez and Stefan Schneider.

Florentina Holzinger & Ensemble, Performance
Cornelia Zink und Andrea Baker, soprano; Emma Rothmann, mezzo-soprano
Blathin Eckhardt, Gibrana Cervantes, otay : onii, live music
Women's choir of the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater & guests
Mecklenburgisches Staatskapelle
Conducted by Marit Strindlund
Stage direction and choreography: Florentina Holzinger
Adult audiences only! (18+)
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Come celebrate the official release of the CD Pone spes in planctu amaro with us!

Thursday, March 14, 2024, 7:00 pm
bei Ruth Ahlers-Frick
Haus Hirschfeld
Adelenstraße 68
28239 Bremen, Germany

This is our way of saying thank you to the many people who have helped make this project possible, and an opportunity for everyone to enjoy a glass of champagne and an hors-d'oeuvre while getting to know the artists, the projects and Leonarda's wonderful music.

The CD will be available as of the beginning of March via the Bremen label arcantus, in stores near you as well as from all the usual digital download and streaming sites (and of course, at the launch party.)

CD Information
arcantus-label

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585): The Lamentations of Jeremiah I (SATTB)
Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1637-1695): Terza Letione del Venerdi for contralto and B.c.
Spirituals and lamentations from Haiti and Südafrika

Soloists
Choir of the ev. Kirchengemeinde Cloppenburg
Conducted by Matthew Glandorf

Ev. Kirchengemeinde Cloppenburg
Ritterstraße 6a, 49661 Cloppenburg
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Emanuele d'Astorga (1680?-1757): Stabat Mater
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Magnificat RV 611

Soloists
Chor Courage Berne
Conducted by Balkis Mele

Thomaskirche Oldenburg (Kirchengemeinde Oferndiek)
Langenweg 165, 26125 Oldenburg
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Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Eleanor Lyons, soprano
Domen Križaj, baritone
Balthasar Neumann Choir
Orfeó Català
Balthasar Neumann Orchester
Directed by Thomas Hengelbrock
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Arnold Schönberg, Moses und Aron
Opera in three acts (Fragment)

Moses: Dietrich Henschel
Aron: Martin Koch
Chor des Theater Bonn
Vocalconsort Berlin
Kinder- u. Jugendchor des Theater Bonn
Beethoven-Orchester Bonn

Musical Direction: Dirk Kaftan
Stage Direction: Lorenzo Fioroni
Sets: Paul Zoller
Costumes: Sabine Blickenstorfer
Video: Christian Weissenberger
Lighting: Boris Kahnert
More Information and Tickets