Peacemakers

PEACEMAKERS What does it mean to seek peace in a time of uncertainty? Das Thema and the Dresdner Sinfoniker confront this pressing question.

Where has peace gone? What is happening to us? The new Czech-German production PEACEMAKERS, or FRIEDENSSTIFTER in German, asks fundamental questions. Eighty years ago, a war that had left the world in ruins and destroyed millions of lives came to an end. Today, tensions are once again mounting in Europe: polarisation, hatred and racism are growing within society, while the war in Ukraine poses a threat to us too. So how can peace be found?

Under the artistic direction of Philipp Schenker [CH] and Roman Horák [CZ/DE], and in collaboration with musicians from the Dresdner Sinfoniker led by Markus Rindt, an exceptional work of documentary music theatre has emerged: a poetic yet urgent statement on what it means to seek peace in a time of uncertainty.

PEACEMAKERS is a work of physical theatre combining movement, live solo and choral singing and multimedia. It draws on authentic life stories and testimony from witnesses to the Second World War.

The production brings together musicians of international standing and well-known figures from the Czech alternative scene. Alongside the performers at the heart of the Das Thema artistic collective, the project features prominent Czech singer Monika Načeva, Romani singer and actress Pavlína Matiová, Ukrainian performer Alisa Zichuk, Armenian mime and performer Arman Kupelyan, German multi-instrumentalist Andreas Gundlach and percussionist Murat Coşkun.

DAS THEMA / TO TÉMA was founded as the first Czech-German cabaret company, but its projects address serious social issues. In PEACEMAKERS, the artists seek to reveal the fragility of our humanity and the power of mutual understanding – a particularly important topic at a time when the public sphere is increasingly filled with mistrust and fear. The company was founded in 2018 and, following its debut cabaret Gefühl und Cit, which has since been performed regularly at Theatre on the Balustrade, has created a total of ten projects. These include Erika Mann?, Kafka has left the building, Písňozávod (Liedfabrik), several film projects – some produced in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut – and Hotel K.

Actors Philipp Schenker and Roman Horák have been prominent figures on the Czech alternative theatre scene for twenty years. They also regularly host major events connected with Czech-German cooperation, including the German Federal President’s Bürgerfest (Citizens’ Festival) and events held as part of the Weimar Triangle. They have become particularly popular for their original and humorous presenting style, developed in a range of theatrical and musical variations and tailored specifically to each event.

DRESDNER SINFONIKER For 25 years, driven by an irrepressible desire to experiment, the Dresdner Sinfoniker have devoted themselves to that singular moment when music comes into being. They focus on vivid stories – but not in the way one might expect from a symphony orchestra: fantastic in vision, unexpected in format, human at heart and politically relevant in ambition. Their projects, which repeatedly bring together some of Europe’s finest musicians, are complex entities – fluid multimedia Gesamtkunstwerke somewhere between socially engaged music theatre and technologically cutting-edge performance, shaped by polished musical precision and global collaboration. Their fundamental driving force is curiosity about the world and the people who inhabit it. In 2010, Hasretim explored the traditional music of Anatolia, while I EXIST – to Rajasthan brought the orchestra together with Romani and Indian musicians in 2018. The Dresdner Sinfoniker place their faith in encounters and dialogue. Although these cannot resolve the world’s crises and conflicts, mutual understanding is what gives us hope for a better future.

In 2017, together with Mexican and US artists, the Dresdner Sinfoniker staged a festival beside the border wall in Tijuana, taking a stand against isolation and intolerance and in favour of freedom, exchange and the free development of human potential. Their extraordinary and socially engaged productions have received international recognition and numerous awards, including the UNESCO World Horizon Prize and an ECHO Klassik award.

“There are no limits” could be the motto of the Dresdner Sinfoniker. There is always something new to discover beyond the horizon.