Open guest lectures by prof. David Roesner on musical theatre taking place in October at the Latvian Academy of Culture
The Latvian Academy of Culture together with Goethe-Institut Riga welcomes all students to attend open guest lectures by professor of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München David Roesner. The lectures will take place on 25th and 26th October, 2017 both at the Goethe-Institut Riga as well as at the theatre house of the Latvian Academy of Culture „Zirgu Pasts”. During his visit prof. David Roesner will give a workshop “Music as Text. Text as Music” to the master’s students of Theatre Art, however, two other lectures are open to all those interested.
The working language in all lectures is English.
Open lecture “Christoph Marthaler and the musicality of the European director” on 25th October, 2017 from 18:00 till 19:30 at the Goethe-Institut Riga (1 Torņa Street).
The Swiss director Christoph Marthaler has been one of the most successful and influential theatre makers of the past 25 years in Europe, winning many major prizes, amongst them the Europe Theatre Prize in Taormina in 1998. He has made his name with quirky and completely original „projects" fusing absurdist texts and scenarios with music and a kind of „slapstick in slow-motion" as one critic termed it. Marthaler then also subjected classics from the dramatic canon to his unique theatrical style – from Goethe's Faust I & II to Shakespeares Twelfth Night and Tempest, from Horváths Kasmir und Karoline to Büchner's Dantons Tod. In addition, he has also directed opera production in Salzburg, Paris, Bayreuth, Hamburg etc. to great acclaim. Amongst other characteristics of his working method and aesthetics, critics have often highlighted the „musicality" of his theatre: in his lecture, David Roesner will seek to differentiate what this term might mean and how it might help to approach the works of Christoph Marthaler, which despite being quite humorous have also proved challenging for audiences and critics alike.
Open lecture “Music Theatre Now. The ITI competition of 2015 and its aesthetic implications for new music theatre” on 26th October, 2017 from 11:00 till 12:30 at the theatre house of the Latvian Academy of Culture „Zirgu Pasts” (46 Dzirnavu Street).
Music Theatre Now is a competition and subsequent festival organised by the International Theatre Institiute, which celebrates new music theatre from around the Globe. Every three years, practitioners are invited to submit video documentations, scores and libretti of new works that have been performed at least once. In 2015 an international jury picked 14 from more than 450 submission which they found particularly original, innovative and of high quality. The production came from China, Italy, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, USA, Mexico, Argentina and Australia. This selection provides, despite all its diversity, a fascinating prism through which to trace some contemporary developments and aesthetic departures, which – particularly when read against the European canon of the operatic tradition – are interesting to look at in more detail. In his talk, David Roesner will show examples of these production and try to tease out some of the share characteristics of what is new and noteworthy about this selection.
David Roesner is a professor of Theatre and Music-Theatre at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He has previously worked at the Universities of Hildesheim, Exeter and Kent. In 2003 he published his first monograph on 'Theatre as Music', followed by major publications on Theatre Noise. The Sound of Performance (with Lynne Kendrick, CSP, 2011), Composed Theatre. Aesthetics, Practices, Processes (with Matthias Rebstock, Intellect, 2012) and his latest monograph Musicality in Theatre. Music as Model, Method and Metaphor in Theatre-Making (Ashgate, 2014). David also works as a theatre musician and sound designer.
For a full list of publications and projects see: http://mhn.academia.edu/DavidRoesner.