Nothing is real.

This year’s festival is dedicated to non-existent places and environments. Let us take you to a magical world full of toy instruments and boundless imagination! Musically, we create dimensions that are beyond our reality. Whether through reinterpretations of familiar stories or the creation of surreal and magical spaces, each performance is a journey into unreality.

In close collaboration with the renowned young composer Lisa Streich, some of her outstanding works will be performed. In addition, we will allow our audience to gain deeper insights into Streich’s work in a panel discussion.

Streich’s art impressively perfects our motto for this year. Their subtle style, peppered with sensitive nuances and complemented by homemade mechanical devices, creates a delicate atmosphere of accidental musical beauty. This harmonizes wonderfully with our festival title “Nothing is real”.

The title was inspired by Alvin Lucier’s cult work of the same name, in which he used “Strawberry Fields” as the musical basis. Lucier’s composition revolves around a teapot, a symbol of communication and storytelling. It invites us to examine the visual language more intensively and to turn to imaginary places and scenarios.

It is precisely these non-existent worlds that we would like to open up musically at this year’s festival, creating spaces that lie beyond reality. Featuring works by Christopher Adler, The Beatles, Greg Beller, Casey Cangelosi, Moritz Eggert, Seoung-Yeon Kwon, Sascha Lino Lemke, Juan Manuel Jaramillo Lleras, Tam Thi Pham, Benjamin Scheuer, Jacob Sello, Steffen Wolf, Ruben Zahra and Dong Zhou.

True to our tradition, we also present a variety of toy instruments and other unusual sound tools and enrich the program with scenic performances.

Program

17.11 Evening 1 (Playing time: 80 minutes )

Lisa Streich Safran (2017) for violin and motorized piano

Jacob Sello UA for non-piano ensemble

Christopher Adler The Toy Robot’s Mechanical Heart (2015) for toy piano and glockenspiel

Casey Cangelosi Bad Touch (2013) for Performer & Playback

Lisa Streich Matrioshka (2022) for paetzold, pump, melodica and egg cutter

– PAUSE-

Panel Discussion with Lisa Streich and Sascha Lino Lemke

Juan Manuel Jaramillo Lleras Cranberry Sauce UA for 3 Toy Pianos

Sascha Lino Lemke The Dark Side of the Moon UA Concerto grosso for 3 vacuum cleaners, melodica, midi toy piano and faderballet

Beatles/Tanoto Strawberry Fields for soprano and non-piano ensemble

Moritz Eggert Air kisses for sextet