Bismarckstraße 35

Bismarckstraße 35: The drone and grind of heavy traffic, the building's sheer, solid façade, bright foyers, peace and quiet behind its glass panes, the labyrinthine world of a busy opera house. Rather than a conventional concert, we are offering here a quirky musical tour through the opera premises, with visitors passing through places both familiar and unknown, locations that are usually off-limits to the general public. Who can say they've never wanted to take a peek at the artists' changing rooms, see what a large props store looks like or get the full acoustic impression of a violin tuning room? What does the "Bismarckstraße 35" building sound like? How do you define a noise? And when does a collection of noises become a piece of music?

The audience follows the progress of four musicians from the Deutsche Oper Berlin orchestra as they set off on a quest for Lachenmann's concept of musical beauty and authenticity, surrounded by silence, noise and commercial acoustics. The musicians are carrying with them fragments of string quartets from all musical epochs and Lachenmann's own String Quartet No.3 "Grido", a work whose beauty lies in the tension between silence, noises and audio material.

This search for the essence, and hearing, of music is staged by director Alexander Charim, who came to attention with his productions for the Berlin Radialsystem, the Vienna Schauspielhaus and the Hanover Staatsoper.

Presented by kulturradio vom rbb and tip