Lucia Ronchetti

Der Sonne entgegen

Music theatre for 14 voices, brass-ensemble end live electronics (rev. 2009)

Text by Steffi Hensel

Dramaturgy by Michael v. zur Mühlen, Steffi Hensel, Lucia Ronchetti

First performance new version:

20/21-3 -2010, Maerzmusik, Sophiensaelen, Berlin

Publisher: Rai Trade

Duration: 1h30 ca

Michael v. zur Mühlen (direction)

Elisabetta Benassi (video)

Lothar Baumgarte (setdesign/lights)

Svenja Gassen (costumes)

Thomas Seelig (live electronic)

Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin

Timo Kreuser (musical director)

Daniel Gloger (voices instructor)

Katia Guedes, Andrea Chudak, Ruth Rosenfeld, Estelle Lefort (Soprano)

Anna Charim, Regina Jakobi (Mezzosoprano)

Kyoung-Ran Won, Claudia von Hasselt (Contralto)

Volker Nietzke, Eloi Prat i Morgades, Florian Just (Tenor)

Andreas Fischer, Martin Gerke, Simon Robinson (Bass)

Barbara Gstaltmayr (producer)

Prize Fonds Experimentelles Musiktheater NRW 2006

Prize “Music Theater Now” ITI Berlin 2008.

Supported by:

Kunst Stifftung NRW

Haupt Stadt Kultur Fonds Berlin

Deutscher Musikrat

Initiative Neue Musik Berlin

Italienisches Kulturinstitut Berlin

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Berlin

Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin

Der Sonne entgegen is a dramatic meditation for 14 solo vocal performers, brass ensemble and live electronics. New and old frontiers of our hyper-communicative world are the main subjects, the point of departure of the project.
The dramaturgy follows the multiple transformations of the 14 performers in fragmented, associatively connected and dramatic situations. They appear as Europeans enjoying a seemingly wonderful holiday on an exotic island-bubble, as refugees facing an insurmountable barrier in desert-like surroundings, as stateless people or survivors in the first world, and finally as unheard-of intellectuals engrossed in complex discussions about loss of territory and migration. A young female figure-skater gliding through the polished space and crossing frontiers, a choir of the dead standing on the border discussing the almighty power of time, and an iceberg speaking about its borderless Antarctic land are outsider figures, external observers.
The members of the cast perform as both singers and actors. They are a sort of percussion orchestra, creating all their sounds with their voices, their bodies and simple props, and using the stage itself as a gigantic drum. For much of the piece there is no external sound support, only the plain and sometimes fragile a cappella performance.
At the end of the work, the brass ensemble creates a meta-historical event reminiscent of the Flood, a remake of the biblical story where everything seems too complex, too loosely connected ever to be resolved. The rainstorm affects the performers, the music, the narration – and the audience as well.