Marine biologist Antje Boetius and sociologist Steffen Mau discuss a controversial issue with Christiane Florin.
Keywords: Biennale, Talks and Literature
| Antje Boetius | Conversation |
| Steffen Mau | Conversation |
| Christiane Florin | Presentation |
Information not provided |
These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.
State elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg are shaking up Germany's political landscape. How changed will the country be in autumn 2024? Writer Anne Rabe and political journalist Robin Alexander discuss this with Christiane Florin.
Gentle drizzling, vigorous splashing, thunderous drumming – rain comes in many guises. Hanns Eisler’s 1941 film score Fourteen Ways to Describe Rain was one of his best chamber music works. Today, in the face of accelerating climate change, weather patterns take on a whole new urgency. Inspired by Eisler, Gregor Mayrhofer explores these phenomena in his composition Tipping Points. Fourteen ways to describe climate change, a commissioned work which will be premiered as part of our Biennale, explores pivotal moments for our climate. The physicist and science journalist Harald Lesch will host this dialogue concert.
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election will change the country: democracy is in danger, observers believe, and society could become more divided. However, Germany is also facing major changes following the collapse of the “traffic light coalition”. A new federal parliament is due to be elected in February 2025. What will both events mean for German politics? The long-serving Governing Mayor of Berlin and current SPD member of the Bundestag Michael Müller and playwright and director Patty Kim Hamilton discuss this with Christiane Florin.
Presidential elections will be held in the United States at the beginning of November. Incumbent Joe Biden wants to run again for the Democrats. The Republicans are likely to send former President Donald Trump into the race, although he still has to face a number of court cases before election day. What does the election of one or the other mean for Germany and the world? Deutschlandfunk journalist Christiane Florin discusses this with author Annika Brockschmidt and Ingo Zamperoni. The ARD Tagesthemen presenter lived in the USA for many years and is a recognised expert on American politics.
Ludwig van Beethoven: genius, freethinker and troubled soul – as well as a master of coping with crises through music. In 1809, he lamented: »We have experienced a rather crowded misery. The entire course of events has affected my body and soul. What a destructive, desolate life around me! Nothing but drums, cannons, all kinds of human misery!« At that time, he was greatly distressed by the current situation, as Vienna was occupied by Napoleon's troops. Food shortages, the black market and inflation were making life difficult for the people. Beethoven often sought shelter in the cellar – and put pillows over his head to avoid hearing the noise. But despite these unfavourable conditions, he wrote his great Fifth Piano Concerto: a gigantic work that gives the impression as if he wanted to drown out the chaos of war with the power and splendour of his music. For long segments, it spreads a belligerent sound – but with the Adagio, a very contemplative movement is interwoven: Beethoven is said to have been thinking of the »chants of devout pilgrims«. These fragmented states of mind are already pervasive in his Fifth Symphony, which was premiered a year earlier and can certainly be understood as a statement on the political fate of Europe at that time. With its famous obsessive motif, the work is at first full of anxiety and emotional complexity over long stretches. But an astounding inner force is able to find its way out of the initial darkness and into the ever brightening light. Like Beethoven wrote in one of his conversation books, which he used because of his deafness and in which he also collected essential ideas: »With music I have transformed my suffering into hope«.
She’s got it, that certain something stars are made of: Anna Prohaska. Recalcitrant look, cheeky wisecracks, an avowed metal fan, yet at the same time thoughtful, deep. »I love being on stage,« she says, and she evidently finds the right tone for each and every musical style, even in operas with »rather convoluted language«. With her luminous soprano, she will rejoice in Mozart’s motet ›Exsultate, jubilate‹, taking it to soaring heights. Hallelujah!
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