Enlarge image (© Hartmut Becker) The German Consulate General presents:

German Poets and Musicians on the Road tells stories with music which connect the lives of Heinrich Heine, Goethe, Beethoven, Brahms, Anna Seghers and Alban Berg, from Lion Feuchtwanger and Boris Blacher, Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill, to Wolfgang Borchert, Samuel Barber, Klaus Pohl and Rodion Schtschedrin in English. Hartmut Becker und Evelyn Ulex take the audience on a journey that traverses happy moments, funny situations and sad events, the real and surreal; so that like the artist, for a short time, they too can escape the mainstream.

Evelyn Ulex, born in Berlin, is an award-winning pianist who performs regularly in the US and Europe as both a solo artist and in collaboration with clarinetist Mariam Adam in the TransAtlantic Ensemble, as well as with visual artists and poets. Combining her piano playing with readings by German actor Hartmut Becker, Ulex produced together with Becker the Performance"Poetic Meets the Piano," featuring the works of musicians and poets escaping, moving, or in exile. Her performance of Mussgorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" was placed in dialogue with the paintings of Ade Frey projected on screen in "Sight and Sound." Now, she returns to the German Consulate in New York for a performance of her newest project with Hartmut Becker, "Musicians and Poets on the Road."

Hartmut Becker is a German popular stage and film star. He has worked in the theatre since 1962, during which time he has starred in dozens of plazs and has been featured in many international and national film and television productions. For his first part in an English-language production, he performed in the BBC film "Forgive our Foolish Ways," where he played the role of a German prisoner of war net to Kate Neligan. For his widely praised performance in the American production "Escape from Sobibor," Hartmut was nominated for an Academy Award in 1988. Since 1998 Mr. Becker has produced performances with literature and music. He works with innovative musicians from Germany, such as Evelyn Ulex (piano), Eva-Christina Schoenweiss (violin), and Babette Haag (percussionist); American cellist Wayne Foster-Smith and sopranist Cassandra Hoffman; as well as Canadian pianist Maureen Malis.

Program:

ESCAPING:

Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Romance op.28/1
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), GERMANY A WINTER TALE (Excerpt)
Beethoven (1770-1827), SONATA, op.27/2 , 1.Movement (Part 1)
Heinrich Heine, THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY (Poem)
Beethoven, SONATA, op.27/2, 1.Movement (Part 2)

ON THE ROAD:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), LONGING (Poem)
Robert Schumann, CHILDREN SCENES (Part 1)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, ITALIEN JOURNEY/Venice (Excerpt)
Robert Schumann, CHILDREN SCENES (Part 2)
cont. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, ITALIEN JOURNEY/Rome (Excerpt)
Robert Schumann, CHILDREN SCENES (PART 3)

EMIGRATION:

Anna Seghers(1900-1983), THE SEVENTH CROSS (Excerpt)
Alban Berg (1885-1935), SONATA op.1 (Excerpt)
cont. Anna Seghers, THE SEVENTH CROSS (Excerpt)
Alban Berg, SONATA op.1 (Excerpt)
Lion Feuchtwanger(1884-1959)HERR HANNSICKE’S SECOND BIRTH
             and
Kurt Weill (1900-1950), INTERMEZZO (Excerpts)
Bertolt Brecht (1889-1956), CONCERNUNG POOR B.B. (Ballade)
Boris Blacher (1903-1975), TROIS PIECES No. 2
Bertolt Brecht, LANDSCAPE OF ESCAPE (Poem)
Boris Blacher, TROIS PIECES No. 3

RETURNE HOME:

Wolfgang Borchert (1921-1947), THE MAN OUTSIDE  (Excerpt)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981), EXCURSIONS/ BLUES

TODAY:

Klaus Pohl (* 1952), WAITING ROOM GERMANY  (Excerpts)
Rodion K. Schtschedrin (* 1932), BASSO OSTINATO
 
Location and time:
German Consulate General
871 UN Plaza (1st Avenue and 49th Street)

Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 6 p.m.

Free Admission. RSVP required.
Please send an email to: germanconsulatenyc[at]gmail.com