winterREISE

winterREISE in Youth Detention Centre

I don't often write about my work or personal life on this blog, but rather recommendations of where to visit and enjoy Berlin. However I wish to make an exception, because of the unexpected nature and uplifting experience of my work today. 

As a musician we become very accustomed to and comfortable in the concert hall, theatre or practice room - but my relationship with Lieder, in this case Schubert's Winterreise, today led me to an unusual situation - a workshop inside a prison for youths. 

Care of winterreise.gefaengnistheater.de

The initiative "Gefängnistheater (Prison Theatre) has been working on this winterREISE project for three years, and has taken the Schubert Song Cycle and used the texts, music and expression, to involve the detainees in an art experiment. 

I was there with an outstanding colleague, dramatic mezzo soprano, Christin-Marie Hill, to perform a selection of songs from the original cycle of 24 in their original classical form. An example of "Gute Nacht" (good night) is performed below by two of Berlin's most famous artistic residents, Baritone Thomas Quasthoff and pianist Daniel Barenboim. 

The majority of the afternoon was spent evolving the original texts into rap responses, performed by the detainees, and myself improvising at the piano, while Christin-Marie added sung refrains and an eclectic mix of jazz, soul, operatic and pop to the ordered rap. 

What struck me the most was not the setting (I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually in a prison), but the genuine response and enthusiasm that these young men (16-23) had to both the classical version of these Lieder (songs) and their own interpretation and response via rap that could relate to their own experiences and lives. 

care of winterreise.gefaengnistheater.de

I would love to post some of the rap verses, which were not only quite poetic in structure, but gave an interesting insight into their lives and past experiences. However there is a performance planned in Autumn (beginning of October), where their interpretations will be presented. Unfortunately I don't know whether it is an open performance, but regardless I feel like the experience and purpose of what is being achieved here is of great importance for rehabilitation and cultural appreciation. 

care of www.berlin.de

That in a prison setting these Lieder can have such a powerful effect, continue to evolve and be relevant, was quite an uplifting and genuinely enjoyable experience for me. I believe the inmates were also extremely grateful and respectful for the day that we shared.

For further information on this programme, which is supported by the EU Union and multiple government initiatives, visit their website in german at: http://winterreise.gefaengnistheater.de/

And to finish with, a clip of my all time favourite Lieder interpreter, the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau performing "Letzte Hoffnung" (last hope) from "Winterreise".