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With the "Lied.Labs", the Liedzentrum dares to experiment: new forms, unusual locations, surprising combinations, and boundary dissolving.
The focus of the programmes is the immediacy of the voice. Young as well as experienced singers and curators are given the space to test their personal vision of what the tradition of song in its manifold forms still has to say to us today and in the future. In recent years, four Lied.Labs have emerged that continue to think about the Lied in unconventional ways.
Ten thousand kilometers
The interdisciplinary Lied.LAB "10.000 Kilometer" was inspired by the exhibition "Dust & Silk" shown at the Völkerkundemuseum Heidelberg, which looks at the Silk Road and the past and present relationship between China and Europe. As a museum walk with instrumental music from East and West, it brought the exhibition's theme to life in an immersive way.
The Lied.LAB was curated by pianist and song composer Toni Ming Geiger. Born in Munich in 1990, the son of a Chinese and a German sinologist, he likes to operate in the intermediate zones of cultures and artistic disciplines.
The Lied.LAB took place as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedfestival 2023.
Sleep Cycle of an Insomniac
A Berlin performance of composer Max Richter's eight-hour "Sleep" project was the source of inspiration for pianist Kunal Lahiry, a fellow of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie and one of the most creative songwriters of his generation. In the staged Lied.Lab "Sleep Cycle of an Insomniac," he traces the parcours of consciousness between fatigue, insomnia, restless dreams and sudden awakenings in songs and works by Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Jake Heggie, Ivor Gurney, Max Richter and Rebecca Clarke, among others.
The programme was intended as a stimulating exploration of the phases of darkness and the memories, fears, and joys that arise during them. Not only do the boundaries between eras blur - from Brahms to George Crumb to Jake Heggie - but genres, stylistic heights and national languages also play associatively into one another. In addition to Lahiry at the piano, the singers Fanny Soyer (soprano), Hagar Sharvit (mezzo-soprano) and Jeeyoung Lim (bass-baritone), all three fellows of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie or the Liedwettbewerb "Das Lied", performed during the evening. The direction of Andrea Tortosa Baquero, the lighting design of Emilio Cordero Checa and the set design of Amir Baltic provided the aesthetic interplay of colors, sounds and sensations.
The Lied.LAB took place as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedfestival 2022.
DIA_LOG
Just like photos, songs are able to open the window to a distant moment. In the staged Lied.Lab "DIA_LOG", slides are placed in a new context with songs by Mendelssohn, Ives or Wolfgang Rihm. They come from Heidelberg citizens and show the key moments of life: the first day at school, the beginning of great love or the wedding. Music and images merge into a nostalgic evening and let us dive deep into our memories.
The interdisciplinary recital was conceived in 2019 by Marie König and Malte Hemmerich, both Fellows of the Heidelberger Frühling Akademie für Musikjournalismus. Vendula Nováková directed, while soprano Theresa Pilsl and pianist Daniel Gerzenberg, both fellows of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie, staged DIA_LOG in the fall of 2021 and again in June 2022 as part of the Liedfestival.
Tanz, Lied, Jazz
Michael Lentz's texts were the basis of the project, which was developed by the Jazz and Popular Music Department and the Academy of Dance at the Mannheim University of Music under the direction of Michael Küttner and Ralf Frey and performed in the 2017 Musikfestival. Voices, percussion and dance were ingredients of an evening where new songs and improvisations met. The project was created in cooperation with the Mannheim State University of Music and Performing Arts and Karlstorbahnhof.