SPARK

Under the associative spectrum of SPARK, the first harbingers of the festival for contemporary music theatre could shine in the autumn with VORGLÜHEN #1 and #2 at the Alte Feuerwache. The festival directors Christina C. Messner and Sandra Reitmayer, in cooperation with ON – Neue Musik Köln, invited the audience to music theatre miniatures (Vorglühen #1, 7.10.2021) and a forum for discourse (Vorglühen #2, 21.11.2021).

In beautiful October weather, the numerous visitors, including guests of the Cologne Museum Night, could convince themselves of the existence of alien beings at Vorglühen #1 (“Interstellar 227” with Dorrit Bauerecker and Barbara Schachtner) or follow the mushroom-headed Margo Zālīte (and her assistant Agnese Rukšāne) in the walkopera “Walk with me” – also actively on a second treadmill.

On the stage of the Alte Feuerwache, the self-made monochords of the Monochord Consort Coeln (Akiko Ahrendt, Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg and Elisa Kühnl), the mezzo-soprano Manon Blanc-Delsalle and Two Singing Landscape Painters (Simon Rummel and Ketonge) sang. Georges Aperghis’ “Graffitis” was heard right at the beginning of the afternoon (Ramón Gardella).

The courtyard of the Alte Feuerwache was also enlivened: by Britta Tekotte and Constantin Leonhard with “in sight” as part of M20 – space for young artists* and Faena Sur – culinary performance at the bar. In this way, miniature music theatre performances were able to evoke the dazzling diversity of the format.