A coproduction by Tilman Hecker, RADIALSYSTEM V and Mozartsummer Mannheim. Funded by Capital Cultural Fund, Berlin. With the friendly support of Watermill Center New York.
Summary
How can music be made visible? In the performance MIDNIGHT, Lynsey Peisinger and Tilman Hecker visualise Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final piano concerto, two concert arias, and one song through a combination of sound art, dance theatre, and experimental music theatre. They approach the scores of these works and use their compositional structures as the foundation for what unfolds on stage. Mozart’s music is not heard but seen: strings, winds, piano, and voice are replaced by theatrical elements—light, video, and three performers. The melodies disappear, yet the compositional timing remains.
A soundscape by composer Arno Kraehahn accompanies the progression of the performance, reflecting the structural parameters of the scores. A reversed projection of the performance filmed from above, the play with simultaneity, pauses, and shifts, as well as the performers’ interaction with their own projections, create a visual structure that speaks to contemporary subjectivity while simultaneously offering an entirely new perspective on Mozart’s compositions.
Trailer
trailer on vimeo
Dates
Tour: 2018 – Festival Otkrovenie, Almaty, Kazakhstan
14 / 15.02.2018 – Kazakh State Academic Drama Theater named after M. O. Auezov
Tour: 2017 – Alexandrinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia
22 / 23 / 24.09.2017 – New Stage Alexandrinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia
Tour: 2016 – Nationaltheater Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
23.07.2016 – 20h00 – Nationaltheater Mannheim – Originalversion sowie Orchesterversion mit Erik Nielsen (Musikalische Leitung und Klavier), Iride Martinez (Sopran) und dem freien Orchester M18
Premiere: 2016 – Radialsystem V, Berlin
06.03.2016 – 17h00 // weitere Aufführungen: 06.03.2016 – 20h00 & 07.03.2016 – 20h00 // Radialsystem V, Berlin
Cast & Crew
Director: Tilman Hecker
Choreography and Performance: Lynsey Peisinger
Composition: Arno Kraehahn
Performance: Ivan Cheng und Frank Willens
Dramaturgy: Dag Lohde
Costumes: Julia von Leliwa
Light: Scott Bolman
Video: Thilo Schmidt
Make-Up: Manu Halligan
Director’s Assistant: Sophie Beck
Postproduction: ARRI Mitte
Press: k3 berlin
Production Management: ehrliche arbeit – freies Kulturbüro
Tour Management: René Dombrowski