The World of Tomorrow – A Musical Performance from the Universe of Brecht & Weill

With: Mari Eriksmoen, soprano, Bjarke Mogensen, accordion, Mathias Beyer-Karlshøj, cello, Katrin Weisser, actor, Martin Miehe-Renard, train conductor / director

Works by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

Almost single-handedly, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill gave words and music to a generation’s anxieties, dreams and hopes in the first half of the 20th century. Through their many collaborations, they created a body of work that is at once raw and beautiful – a soundtrack to the challenges of the interwar years. Today, as global tensions once again rise and unease spreads, it may be time to listen anew to the unflinching voices of these two German artists.

In this intimate musical theatre piece, we find ourselves inside a train carriage with a handful of characters drawn from the world of Brecht and Weill. When we meet them, they are packed into a compartment just south of the Brenner Pass sometime in the 1920s, waiting for snow from a storm to be cleared so their journey can continue. While they wait, they tell their stories in different ways – through songs and texts that, a century later, may once again offer comfort, perspective and a sense of hope.

Sharing the carriage is the remarkable Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen, accompanied with great sensitivity by her fellow musicians on stage in a wide-ranging selection of works by the two German masters. The stories are woven together by German actor Katrin Weisser, who lends voice and physical presence to the stranded passengers as they wait for better weather and the chance to move on.

Gain a refreshing perspective on the state of the world in the company of familiar melodies and outstanding musicians, in a fully musical performance devised by the ensemble itself, with Martin Miehe-Renard as both train conductor and director.