Musicians from different genres address the question "Where is home?" A new series of digital concert films focuses on the life and work of Kurt Weill. He was born in Dessau and is still considered one of the most important composers.
Dessau-Roßlau (dpa/sa) - Live music and conversations with surprise guests directly in the living room - or wherever you may be there via the Internet. This is what a new digital project by the Dessau Kurt Weill Society promises. Under the motto "WEILL@night", the concert film series is intended to be a new form of artistic examination of socially relevant topics, as the head of the project, Katharina Markworth, said. The aim is to win new audiences for Weill (1900-1950). It is about conveying much more about him as a composer ("The Threepenny Opera") and as a person and contemporary witness.
The team around the Dessau Kurt Weill Center used the experience it had with online concerts during the corona pandemic. "The format was very well received," said Markworth. In the five-part new series "WEILL@night", which is dedicated to the central question "Where is home?", musicians from pop, hip-hop, jazz and classical music can be experienced virtually. The pianist Joja Wendt will lead through the programs.
According to the information, the topic of home determined Weill's life and also the Kurt Weill Festival 2021 in Dessau. "In times of climate change, global refugee movements and an increasingly loud right-wing populism, it is the central question of our society," said Markworth. The guests of the "WEILL@night" format turn to the topic in songs and pieces as well as in conversation with the moderator Wendt. Who his guests will be will be announced shortly before the show. "We're going for the element of surprise," Markworth said. The concerts will be available online (www.weillatnight.de) from March 2023.
The composer Kurt Weill was born in Dessau in 1900 as the son of a Jewish cantor. When the Nazis came to power, he moved to the United States, where he was an acclaimed Broadway musical composer. Weill died in New York in 1950. He was a companion of the playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956). The Dessau Kurt Weill Festival was launched after 1990. In 2021, due to the corona pandemic, it was organized in two parts and with online versions.
