André Heller’s Menschenkinder: Sophie Freud

André Heller’s Sufi Night

André Heller’s Reflektor festival opens with an evening of spiritual music from Morocco and Pakistan. The rhythmic music of the gnawa singer Hind Ennaira from Essaouira, Morocco, in the first half of the concert is followed by the powerful qawwali of the Sufi ensemble of Fareed Ayaz and his brother Abu Muhammad from Pakistan. Listening to gnawa music, with its dynamic rhythms and chants, is a physical experience that brings both the players and the listeners to ecstasy. This ecstatic state induced through the medium of music is also important in qawwali, and is said to bring the audience and the performers closer to God. The concert begins with the powerful qawwali singing of the Pakistani Sufi ensemble led by Fareed Ayaz and his brother Abu Muhammad. The ensemble’s musical roots reach back 700 years to the tradition of Delhi’s devotional singers. In Sufi mysticism, qawwali – which is known as the »path of the heart« – expresses fervent devotion to God. The music begins with a meditative rhythm of chants, melodies and percussion. Gradually, the rhythm ramps up, reaching intoxicating climaxes that are said to lead the musicians and listeners closer to the divine. The brothers and their ensemble have been internationally known for more than 30 years, and are Pakistan’s most popular qawwal group. They are followed by the 26-year-old gnawa musician and gimbri player Hind Ennaira who is one of the few female maâlems or master musicians among the hundred or so gnawa artists in Morocco, whose musical tradition is usually passed down from father to son. As a maâlem, she – with her bassy gimbri lute – leads the gnawa ensemble consisting of dancing singers who play the castanet-like instrument krakebs.

André Heller’s Menschenkinder: Peter Fabjan

Peter Fabjan is the younger half-brother of the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard. Peter is a retired physician and administrator of the estate of his famous brother. In conversation with André Heller, he gives intimate insights into the childhood and adolescence he experienced together with Thomas Bernhard in the Upper Austria of the immediate post-war period, which characterised Bernhard’s work. The account of Thomas Bernhard’s final years and his death, which Peter Fabjan also attended as Bernhard’s physician, is humanely sensitive and very touching. In his film series »Menschenkinder«, André Heller has been profiling very different personalities and their lives since 2013. Insightful conversations give the interviewees free reign to recount from their memoirs. Without any pressure or specified direction, they disclose such intimate insights into their career, suddenly recollect long-forgotten memories and, completely incidentally, create a panorama of contemporary history and lived-in worlds. Heller’s conversation partner Peter Fabjan gives an account of what it has been like to be »the brother of …« all his life. Please note: This film will be shown in German.

André Heller’s Menschenkinder: Andrea Breth

Andrea Breth shaped Vienna’s Burgtheater of the 2000s and 2010s like no other stage director. Her psychological realist style made her one of the driving forces in German theatre. Numerous prizes and invitations to the Berliner Theatertreffen, a theatre festival in Berlin, were the reward for her work. In 2019, she bid farewell to the Viennese public for the time being with the production of Gerhard Hauptmann’s »The Rats«. In conversation with André Heller, she recollects an eventful time and tells of her career in the theatre. In his film series »Menschenkinder«, André Heller has been profiling very different personalities and their lives since 2013. Insightful conversations give the interviewees free reign to recount from their memoirs. Without any pressure or specified direction, they disclose such intimate insights into their career, suddenly recollect long-forgotten memories and, completely incidentally, create a panorama of contemporary history and lived-in worlds. In this way, André Heller dives deeply into the German theatre world of recent decades with the stage director Andrea Breth. Please note: This film will be shown in German.

André Heller’s Menschenkinder: Christoph Ransmayr

The writer Christoph Ransmayr, born in Wels, Upper Austria in 1954, was already writing for travel and culture magazines, such as »Transatlantik«, »Merian« and »Geo«, during his studies before he had finally made a name for himself as a freelance writer. Ransmayr’s writings, profoundly influenced by his journeys across all continents, have been translated into more than 30 languages and awarded numerous literary prizes. Ransmayr lived in Ireland for years, but is now back in Vienna. In conversation with André Heller, he permits insights into deeply personal experiences. It is a gripping conversation in which Ransmayr genuinely runs through even the dark hours of his life. In his film series »Menschenkinder«, André Heller has been profiling very different personalities and their lives since 2013. Insightful conversations give the interviewees free reign to recount from their memoirs. Without any pressure or specified direction, they disclose such intimate insights into their career, suddenly recollect long-forgotten memories and, completely incidentally, create a panorama of contemporary history and lived-in worlds. Christoph Ransmayr describes himself as a »semi-nomad«, who has traversed almost the entire world in the course of his life. Please note: This film will be shown in German.

Sophie Straat – Punk & Plush

SOPHIE RENNERT & JOSEPH MIDDLETON

On the operatic stage, Austrian mezzo­soprano Sophie Rennert is acclaimed for her portrayals of Baroque heroines—including her celebrated debut as Galatea in the staged production of Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in November 2023 at the Pierre Boulez Saal. Together with pianist Joseph Middleton, she now gives voice to her other great passion: the lied repertoire. In addition to a selection of works by Franz Schubert, the duo performs Mahler’s moving Rückert Songs.

Marc-André Hamelin / Piano Recital

Marc-André Hamelin’s last performance in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie thrilled audiences and the press alike: The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported enthusiastically on the exceptional pianist’s spectacular performance, setting a speed record in the breakneck difficult final movement of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. Indeed, Marc-André Hamelin is recognised worldwide as a »super-pianist« with unlimited technical abilities: No work seems to present him with serious difficulties. This time, too, he presents challenging works by Haydn, Beethoven, Medtner and Rachmaninoff – a varied programme that raises great expectations.

Anne-Sophie Mutter & Lambert Orkis

»We are like tightrope walkers who try to give each other the optimal position for the triple somersault with a screw,« says Anne-Sophie Mutter, summarising the special nature of her long-standing stage partnership with Lambert Orkis. They have been rehearsing, travelling and performing together for 35 years – and are celebrated worldwide for their intense chamber music dialogues. »We like each other, we like each other’s playing and presence. [...] A large part of our communication is exclusively through sound,« says Orkis, revealing part of the secret of their success. This also includes the well-chosen programme combinations, which always offer room for new discoveries alongside well-known works by Mozart or Schubert – such as the wonderful three Romances by Clara Schumann, which the composer herself once premiered with the famous violinist Joseph Joachim.

Sophie Hunger: Walzer für Niemand

»Walzer für Niemand« (Waltz for Nobody): that’s the name of a song by Sophie Hunger, released in 2008 on her debut album »Monday’s Ghost«. And it is also the name of her first novel, which will be published in spring 2025. The coming-of-age story, which is as unfathomable as it is poetic, tragicomic and sophisticated, tells of what we have to lose in order to become something. As part of her »Reflektor« festival at the Elbphilharmonie, Sophie Hunger will read from her book and sing some of her songs, accompanied only by herself on the guitar. The novel tells the story of a girl and her best friend Niemand. Their upbringing is characterised by constant changes of location. Carried by the rhythm of music, they experience the magic and shocks of childhood and adolescence. They are happiest when they lose themselves in their record collection or find the phrases in songs that have always lurked inside them. They hide in the music and are hidden by it, but they always have each other. But then the friendship cracks and a catastrophe is in the offing.

André Heller & The Best from Vienna

No false modesty: the »André Heller Reflektor« is brought to a close by the Best of Vienna, a title they thoroughly deserve, even if the Austrian capital is also home to heaps of other artists who are no less good than they are. The city boasts a music history going back centuries in a genre that no other city in the world can claim: Viennese song. Festival curator André Heller himself is of course one of the best from Vienna too, and will be taking to the concert stage for the first time in decades. His performance and the entire concert are available in the Elbphilharmonie Mediatheque: Go to video on demand Four years ago, some of these artists performed at the Elbphilharmonie’s »Ganz Wien« festival. Ernst Molden, who always mixes a little bit of Mississippi into the Danube waters with his guitar playing, has, with André Heller, recruited a group of musicians who all have one thing in common: with deep respect for tradition, they breathe new life into Viennese song, thereby keeping the genre vibrant and alive. The charismatic singer Voodoo Jürgens will be among them, as will Nino Mandl, who is better known as Der Nino aus Wien, the Dylan from the Danube city. The clever and sarcastic songwriter Anna Mabo, who plays some of her choruses on a kazoo, and the fabulous singers Tini Kainrath and Ursula Strauss will also be there. Instrumental variety is provided by the Neue Wiener Concert Schrammeln and the Frauenorchester, which actually consists of only three women playing guitar, bass and drums. The Best of Vienna are the best simply because they come from Vienna.