2001

Hashirigaki - Guardian names it Musical Theatre of the Year 2001:

Andrew Clements, the music critic of the Guardian, writes in his article The year in Classical Music (December 21, 2001): "Best of all for me, though, was Heiner Goebbels's latest theatre piece, Hashirigaki, a highlight of an Edinburgh festival otherwise full of operas in concert performance; Goebbels brings together Gertrude Stein and the Beach Boys in a magical synthesis that, like all the greatest art, is utterly unclassifiable." Also the WIRE defined the performance of Hashirigaki at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival as the highlight of the festival: "Goebbels is a man of the theatre as much as a composer, and music and words were unified in a delightfully absurdist, make-believe world of play"

Die Befreiung des Prometheus

By now already a classic: Die Befreiung des Prometheus, Heiner Goebbels' only piece in which he performs live on stage himself, was presented in August both in Austria - open air - at the ancient Roman amphitheatre Carnuntum (Vienna) and in the New Festspielhaus in Luzern (Switzerland). It was also shown in Italy (Reggio Emilia) in October 2001.

Scutigeras

On October 21st 2001, the british keyboard sextett Piano Circus premiered Scutigeras, a circle of compositions by Heiner Goebbels, including 'La Jalousie', 'Surrogate' and 'D&C', adapted with Piano Circus member Richard Harris for 2 grand pianos and 4 keyboards plus samplers, with specially-commissioned light work by Jo Joelson.

Surrogate Cities in Dessau

The designated musical director of the Opera Dessau, the conductor Golo Berg, opened his first season with a presentation of the Grammy nominated orchestra compostion Surrogate Cities (September), soloists have been - as well as on the CD - David Moss and Jocelyn B. Smith.

Restart of ...même soir.-

In September the restart of ...même soir.- at the TAKTLOS Festival in Bern (Switzerland) took place succesfully. ...même soir.- is a staged concert created recently for and with Les Percussion de Strasbourg (premiered in 2000 at musica viva in Munich).

Schwarz auf Weiss

Another highlight in 2001 were again performances of the music theatre piece Schwarz auf Weiss in Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (June), in Jahrhunderthalle Bochum (August/September) and also at the Lincoln Centre Festival in New York (end of July).

No arrival no parking

End of June L.I.F.T. (London International Festival of Theatre) presented No Arrival No Parking - navigation part three, a staged concert project by Heiner Goebbels with London improvising musicians which was part of the L.I.F.T. professional development program (light & stage: Klaus Gruenberg).

Timeios (ein Bild, das wir Zeit nennen)

During June 2001, as part of the AGORA Festival of IRCAM/Centre Pompidou, Paris, it was possible to revisit the sound installation Timée / Timeios, created by Heiner Goebbels in 2000, which has been shown in several European cities.

European Theatre Prize for new theatrical realities

In April 2001 Heiner Goebbels was awarded the European Theatre Prize for new theatrical realities in Taormina, accompaigned by a performance of Max Black and a conference on his work with contributions of Prof. Helga Finter, Prof. Hans Thies Lehmann, David Moss, Hans Burkhard Schlichting, Helene Varopoulou, and many others.

Hashirigaki

In March 20 performances en suite of the new musictheatre piece Hashirigaki in Paris (Theatre des Amandiers, Nanterre) with an extremely positiv echo of the audience and the reviewers. Hashirigaki premiered last year in Lausanne and was shown in Berlin, Hamburg, Rome. Performers are Carlotta Engelkes, Marie Goyette and Yumiko Tanaka. It is based on texts by Getrude Stein and features Japanese music as well as music from the famous Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds". Hashirigaki has been well recieved and has been considered - by several papers and a huge public response - as one of the highlights at the Third Theatre Olympics / the Tschechow-Festival in Moskau this May and at this year's Singapore Arts Festival in June. ("Hashirigaki performed a miracle in our hearts... It was a language of wonder, of joy and of power of Imagination... The happy marriage of music and theatre in Hashirigaki was thrilling" (The Straits Times) "One of the most intriguing and innovative offerings at this year's Arts Festival." (Business Times). "The best thing one has seen at the fest." (Singapore Press: The Arts).