“It is less hope that drives me than the categorical rejection of discouragement”, said the Austrian-French social psychologist, cultural philosopher, and writer of Jewish descent Manès Sperber (1905–1984).
Worldwide threats are growing: current and looming wars, autocratic rulers and their supporters. The result is profit for the few and misery for the many, flight and displacement, the undermining and abolition of the rule of law and human rights. Death, misery, and trauma. The Earth mutates into a poisoned dumping ground. The glass seems more half empty than half full.
Without hope, the “categorical rejection of discouragement” appears to be the second step before the first: defiant and without direction. Yet it is precisely this unconditional affirmation of the positive that describes a perspective which art, as a humane force of poetry and spirit, can offer in restless times.
Very concretely, the human voice, in its immediate bodily presence, may be an expression of courage and hope. The opening concert demonstrates this impressively with the powerful voices of the Trio Generator. A fine vocal thread then runs through the festival — from the tenor solos at the Tafelmusik lunchtime concerts to the children’s choir concert on the final weekend.
Three large-scale, space-related works address the state of the world and society. Alongside Eloain Lovis Hübner’s audio-theatre Massen for the Cologne ensemble electronic ID, Klangwerkstatt Berlin presents two major world premieres: Karen Power’s multimedia piece life between poles for ensemble mosaik and the Irish Quiet Music Ensemble, which explores the unique beauty and fragility of the polar regions, and the music-theatrical concert Spell by the Kollektiv Unruhe, which transforms the concert hall into a magical and at times bizarre space.
In concerts with and for children, with international amateur musicians, and with excursions into jazz, Klangwerkstatt Berlin opens a space for encounter, learning, and curious listening. The much-invoked word “education” becomes reality here in a universal sense.
With the festival’s closing concert we send greetings to Helmut Lachenmann, the great composer who, eleven days later, celebrates his 90th birthday. With a bit of luck, he will be present himself and perform one of his later piano works.
Stefan Streich, Nina Ermlich
