About the production

Start

7:30 p.m.

End

9 p.m.

John Zorn says of himself, “Just as some people are able to speak several languages fluently, I find I can express myself in several musical genres.” In “Les Maudits” (The Accursed), Zorn examines the lives of several “cursed” figures who nevertheless had a profound impact on our culture. The work is in three parts: “Ubu” refers to King Ubu in Alfred Jarry’s pre-Dadaist play, “Baudelaires” to the prolific output of the great French poet, and “Oviri” to Paul Gauguin’s statue of a Tahitian goddess (Oviri is the Tahitian word for “wild” or “savage”). In Görlitz, the themes of these three musical sections will be examined in texts by a brilliant author who experienced and reflected on the life of the outsider: Gertrude Stein. She even entertained Alfred Jarry in her famous salon in the Rue de Fleurus 27, surrounded by paintings by Gauguin and serving cookies “à la Baudelaire” with the notorious ingredient cannabis sativa. This theatrical reading with music will effortlessly erase artistic boundaries. “Even Albert Einstein once said that fantasy is more important than knowledge,” Zorn says, adding, “Music should feel like a trip to the moon.” Klangforum Wien (one of the world’s most outstanding contemporary music ensembles, with 24 musicians from 11 countries) will accompany listeners on this musical journey to new worlds.