Zu Gast in der Alten Oper Frankfurt

Guest at the Alte Oper Frankfurt

»You must offer something good to the body so that the soul wants to live in it.« This quote became famous through Winston Churchill – but it originally originated from a Spanish mystic of the 16th century. Fittingly, we play an exciting violin concerto entitled »Corpo Elettrico« from Italian composer Luca Francesconi, born in 1956. The piece revolves around magical metamorphoses of energy processes: It all starts harmlessly at first, but as it progresses, the violin part, which at some point resembles a machine and becomes very explosive, sounds like a guitar solo by Jimi Hendrix. A tour de force with electronics and megaphones as well as an unbelievable pull – written for Patricia Kopatchinskaja in 2020, who continuously shakes up the classical music business with her uncompromising artistic attitude and once said: »When I play, I have to have something to say. It has to come from my whole body and soul.« The sound fireworks keep going after this – with Beethoven‘s most passionate symphony. His Seventh was given numerous programmatic interpretations in literature, which definitely associated material delights: they range from a wedding celebration and a knight‘s festival to the depiction of an »ancient wine feast«, with the finale heard as a »drinking binge«. Beethoven completed the symphony in 1812 – the year in which he also wrote his desperate letter to the »immortal beloved«, which for him meant the final renunciation of personal happiness in love. Nevertheless, he accomplished an optimistic work with his Seventh, because it was clear to him: »Music should strike fire from the human soul«.

Gastspiel in Frankfurt

Guest at the Kaisersaal der Residenz in Würzburg

Mozartfest Würzburg

Guest at the Kaisersaal der Residenz in Würzburg

Mozartfest Würzburg

Wie kommt der Geist in geistliche Musik, Herr Lauster?

How does spirit enter sacred music, Mr. Lauster? Not only sacred works are ingenious, inspire, and uplift. We readily attribute "spirit" to musical phenomena, to the inexplicable in art and other areas of existence. When is this justified and when not? Is the invisible phenomenon of sound, music, particularly predestined as a dwelling place of spirit and spirits? Myths, not only from the Christian cultural sphere, suggest this. The Protestant theologian Jörg Lauster, holder of the Chair of Dogmatics, Philosophy of Religion, and Ecumenism in Munich and author of fundamental books on Christianity, has dedicated a "biography" to the Holy Spirit and traces the "enchantment of the world" through art and culture.