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Songs At The Theatre

Get ready for an evening of music in the theater! Following the success of last year’s event, we are very pleased to invite you to once again enter the world of songs through the lenses of two Berlin-based singer-songwriters. Viktor’s Joy and Alex Spencer will share new material from their own songbooks and invite special guests to join them on stage. Brandon Miller will release his new album, Blue Blood Eclipse, and perform it live with a full band.

Vikor’s Joy sings about life. With precise observations about people, neighborhoods, bus journeys or other people’s concerts, Viktor’s Joy takes you and shows you exactly how his interior and exterior world looks. Like being drawn into a painting or a good book, the listener never wants the songs to end. With tear-jerkingly beautiful plucked guitar and a voice steady and low, each feels like a masterpiece.

Brandon Miller is a Berlin based singer/songwriter whose music immediately takes the listener by the hand and into a story. His live performances are disarming, subversive and authentic. On stage he has supported such artists as William Elliott Whitmore, Michael Nau, Hawk and a Hacksaw, Deertick, Nina Nastasia, John Fullbright, and many others. As of the 2017-2018 season, he has been working at Theaterdiscounter Berlin writing and performing original “apocalyptic campfire” songs for the Internil performance group theater project GOG/MAGOG. A disinformation campaign in four parts (Ukraine/Syria/Israel/Europe). Many of the songs he has written for this project are collected on his new album, Blue Blood Eclipse, which will be officially released at this concert.

Alex Spencer is fresh out of the studio from recording her second album. With a conscious move towards her roots in jazz music, she has teamed up with one of the hottest trios in town: Ben Lehmann (double bass), Martial Frenzel (drums) and Paul Engelmann (alto sax). Drawing inspiration from such diverse subject matters as insects, painters or parenting, the songs themselves defy categorization, sometimes jazzy, other times more folk, sometimes tipping over into pop. Each of them sung with a voice strong enough to transport the whole auditorium.

Listen to Viktor’s Joy on Bandcamp and visit his artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Listen to Brandon Miller on Bandcamp and visit his official website

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to Alex Spencer on SoundCloud and visit her artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

Songs at the Theatre

Bathe in the sonic and poetic presence of four Berlin-based singer-songwriters from England, Ireland and Estonia.

Each has a unique voice and approach to the challenge of writing the perfect song, Alex Spencer, Viktor’s Joy, Sam Dale and Kilkelly draw on a wide range of musical and lyrical influences and resources.

The evening will not be short of surprises, featuring collaboration and creative cross-pollination on stage with special guests appearing during each set.

Listen to Alex Spencer on SoundCloud and visit her artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Listen to Viktor’s Joy on Bandcamp and visit his artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Listen to Sam Dale on Bandcamp and visit his artist page on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Visit Kilkelly at his official homepage and on Facebook

Hand

Tape Loops, Heartbeats & Super 8 – A Triple Record Release Event!

With his first solo project, Sascha Bachmann aka Hand combines tape loops and moving images to create a contrast to the fast, loud world we live in, making space for emotions, self-reaction, calmness as well as excitement.

Alongside the release of Hand’s album Debut, the evening will also include performances by Janek Sprachta and Lars Hemmerling, who are also both releasing albums.

Watch Hand perform a live set

https://youtu.be/zIq0Bjxdx5k

Watch the music video for Loop 0.4

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A documentary with Hand all about Debut

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2017 EXP(L)O(RE)

A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
This format opens the festival and is dedicated to newcomers, shorter performances and work-in-progress. Spend an entire afternoon taking in twelve performances on stage, in dressing rooms and all around the theater. In between the performances, you can enjoy fantastic food, luxurious libations and magnificent music by international, Berlin-based musicians. Performances start at 2pm and we open our doors at 1pm.

 

AHNENAMT/MINISTRY FOR ANCESTORS by Club Real (Austria)

This long-term project about a new aesthetic practice of elective kinship is a scenic installation – a parallel reality which needs to be entered by visitors to come to life. It examines a new cultural practice: the possibility to adopt an ancestor.

 

 

 

 

CARLOS WHISPER by Katie Lee Dunbar (UK)

A one-on-one performance in which individual audience members are whisked off into a sonic wonderland, all centered around a table of seemingly random objects. The connections are only made clear once you put the headphones on.

 

 

 

 

EPILOGUE by Noemi Berkowitz (USA/Poland)

What might life after death look like… and what implications would that have for life before death? In this two-woman play, a girl finds pieces of herself in stories from across the world and across time. A performance about the ways we develop in our journeys forward.

 

 

 

 

HYO (효) by Haenny Park (South Korea)

This piece was inspired by a famous Korean folktale, very often told to the artist by her father as a child. It tells the story of a son who digs up a grave to steal a human leg, which he will use to save his dying mother.

 

 

 

 

I DON’T WEAR SKIRTS BECAUSE I NEVER LEARNED TO CROSS MY LEGS by Angela Millano (Spain)

This performance is a protest against the normalization, legislation and control of our bodies and the need to fulfill standards perceived as natural. It is a rebellion by a vulnerable and violent body that feels beyond the social, professional and personal limitations imposed on it.

 

 

 

 

INTIMATE ARSENAL (A QUARTET) by Claudia Grigg Edo (UK/Catalonia)

Sit down at the table. On the other side of the table is HER. Stay with her as she navigates one of four situations. If you like, you can watch it loop round again in this interactive video projection.

 

 

 

 

LATENT DREAMS by Katrine Turner (Scotland)

This performance is about the Apocalypse. About the rising sea waters, and the invisible plagues. About when Cillian wakes up from his coma, and there’s no one about so he breaks into a vending machine for a can of Coke. About the futures we allow ourselves to envision.

 

 

 

 

MOUTH CONTROL by MILK (USA)

Sometimes it’s easier to be honest when no one is around. We are more open in text messages and status updates than we are in face-to-face interactions with others. In Mouth Control, we ask the audience to test the limitations of distance and vulnerability in real time. We invite you to play a game with us.

 

 

 

 

SKEWED by Shanti Suki Osman (UK)

A solo performance using song, storytelling and sound. Using live and prerecorded voice and field recordings, Shanti
Suki Osman presents 4 songs documenting her exploration of self-fetishization as a means for empowerment.

 

 

 

 

SWEETS FOR A STORY by Bees Knees Sweets (Canada)

An exploration of connecting with strangers and their stories using food as a catalyst. Food is universal. It’s something we all want and need as human beings, and therefore is something that unites us as people. Food can tell our stories, as well as inspire them.

 

 

 

 

THE FOURTH UNITY by Renen Itzhaki (Israel)

A room. A bookshelf. A small group of people. They walk in circles. They are all one. They read a book. Sometimes out loud. Sometimes they stop. Sometimes a memory.

 

 

 

 

THE WHEEL by Connecting Fingers (UK/Italy)

From the script by philosopher Sara Fortuna, inspired by Dogville from Lars von Trier, four dancers explore a circular conceptual space organized in several steps in this work-in-progess showing: sleep/pre-birth/origin, child-like openness to the adult world in its tensions, contradictions, competitions, failures and eventual coming back to the starting point.

Telion’s Garden (Dirty Granny Tales)

Dirty Granny Tales is an acoustic ensemble that narrates atmospheric stories. Their shows include puppet theater, dance performance and video animation projection, all of which, accompanied by the music, bring the story to life.

Influenced by the atmospheric fairytales of Tim Burton and Guilermo Del Toro, the melodies of Danny Elfman, the irony of Tiger Lillies, The Residents’ sterile landscape, Japanese Gothic theater and Butoh choreography, Dirty Granny Tales transports us to a magical dark world in their own extraordinary way.

Telion’s Garden, a tale influenced by migration, invades human instincts. Indignation and fear lead to desperate decisions. The pursuit of a perfect, flawless, godly world becomes the goal: a world that no flames can destroy, a world that has no room for hellish fire. Alas, the lack of fire can only create an emotionless world. Perfection is an illusion. Life is an inseparable bond of light and darkness. Respecting this bond is the only key to our survival.

 

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Dirty Granny Tales are:

Stavros Mitropoulos (Mouldbreath): Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin

Thanos Mitropoulos (Wormeaten Vagus): Bass, Blockflute, Backing Vocals

Dalai Theofilopoulou (Slimeskin): Cello, Backing Vocals

Uli Muehe (Heartbeat Zero): Percussion, Backing Vocals

Ruby Wilson: Dance

Giulia del Balzi: Dance

 

Didi’s Son (Dirty Granny Tales)

In a world where everything is reversed and objects come to life while the human beings are subservient to them, a writer becomes part of the story that he is writing.

thanos didiHe falls in love with the leading lady of his fairy tale, threatened by his own story creatures, and in the end redeems them and is himself redeemed.

Dirty Granny Tales is an acoustic ensemble that narrates atmospheric stories. Their shows include puppet theater, dance performance and video animation projection, all of which, accompanied by the music, bring the story to life.

Influenced by the atmospheric fairy tales of Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro, the melodies of Danny Elfman, the irony of Tiger Lillies, The Residents’ sterile landscape, Japanese Gothic theater and Butoh choreography, Dirty Granny Tales transports us to a magical dark world in their own extraordinary way.

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Dirty Granny Tales are:

Stavros Mitropoulos (Mouldbreath): Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin

Thanos Mitropoulos (Wormeaten Vagus): Bass, Blockflute, Backing Vocals

Dalai Theofilopoulou (Slimeskin): Cello, Backing Vocals

Uli Muehe (Heartbeat Zero): Percussion, Backing Vocals

Anna Athanasiou and Katerina Liana: Dance, Puppets

 

Lil’ Ole Opry // Berlin’s Country Stage

Inspired by Nashville’s famous Grand Ole Opry, this live radio “barn dance” features Berlin’s country-music all-stars backed by the one and only Cosmic Combo – Uwe Effertz (guitar), Tomas Peralta (bass), Jens Baumann (drums), Miles Perkin (pedal steel guitar) and Friedemann Bochow (keys).

Featured artists include Bannerman (Richard Setford), Volk, Manon Kahle, Freddie Webber, Chester Travis and Mika Bajinski.

 

Telion’s Garden (Dirty Granny Tales)

Dirty Granny Tales is an acoustic ensemble that narrates atmospheric stories. Their shows include puppet theater, dance performance and video animation projection, all of which, accompanied by the music, bring the story to life.

Influenced by the atmospheric fairytales of Tim Burton and Guilermo Del Toro, the melodies of Danny Elfman, the irony of Tiger Lillies, The Residents’ sterile landscape, Japanese Gothic theater and Butoh choreography, Dirty Granny Tales transports us to a magical dark world in their own extraordinary way.

Telion’s Garden, a tale influenced by migration, invades human instincts. Indignation and fear lead to desperate decisions. The pursuit of a perfect, flawless, godly world becomes the goal: a world that no flames can destroy, a world that has no room for hellish fire. Alas, the lack of fire can only create an emotionless world. Perfection is an illusion. Life is an inseparable bond of light and darkness. Respecting this bond is the only key to our survival.

 

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Dirty Granny Tales are:

Stavros Mitropoulos (Mouldbreath): Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin

Thanos Mitropoulos (Wormeaten Vagus): Bass, Blockflute, Backing Vocals

Dalai Theofilopoulou (Slimeskin): Cello, Backing Vocals

Uli Muehe (Heartbeat Zero):  Percussion, Backing Vocals

Ruby Wilson: Dance

Giulia del Balzi: Dance

 

Gillian Grassie

When Grammy-winner Marc Cohn first saw her perform, he called himself “an instant Gillian Grassie fan,” observing, “it’s rare to hear a young singer with such control and understated soulfulness, and even more rare to hear a harp provide such a deep percussive groove. I was immediately captivated by her sound.” Traveling the world with her harp on her back and her heart on her sleeve, Gillian’s music challenges the conventions of her instrument and showcases a knack for “turning seemingly insignificant events […] into songs worthy of everyone’s attention,” (Origivation Magazine).

Her innovative use of the harp, expressive vocals, and sophisticated but accessible songwriting have earned her grants from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation and the U.S. State Department, a slew of awards, and the fervent support of her fans, who collectively funded Grassie’s second album, The Hinterhaus, produced by Todd Sickafoose (Andrew Bird, Ani DiFranco, Erin McKeown, Anaïs Mitchell). Grassie graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in Comparative Literature. A natural storyteller, her music is often inspired by literary works and has been featured on radio, film, and television. She has toured across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia at performances ranging from a moving train in Mumbai, to a private gala for HRH Prince Albert of Monaco, to an opening slot for Amanda Palmer and a sold out club in Siberia.

One fan described her as “an awesome combination of Pippi Longstocking, drinking buddy and the Mata Hari. Trust me, you never saw anything like this.” A Philadelphia native, she currently hangs her hat in Berlin.

With support act Hannes Maschado

SupportHannes Maschado is a 27 years old singer/songwriter born and raised in Sweden, based in Berlin. His music is best described as “Scandinavian Blues”- rooted in traditional African-American folk with clear, typical nordic melancholic themes and lyrics.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch Gillian Grassie on YouTube:

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Didi’s Son

In a world where everything is reversed, and objects come to life while the human beings are subservient to them, a writer becomes part of the story that he is writing.

He falls in love with the leading lady of his fairy tale, threatened by his own story creatures, and in the end redeems them and is himself redeemed. Dirty Granny Tales compose this bizarre dark tale, with all parts coming alive on stage. The musicians take on the role of narrator. Puppets and animation projections infuse the characters of the fairy tale with life. Intense lighting embraces and completes the dark aesthetic of the show.

Dirty Granny Tales’ performances consist of the combination of music, puppet theater, animation and dance. They bring to life atmospheric, otherworldly fairy tales using the symbolic languages of all these arts. Musicians with acoustic instruments such as guitar, mandolin, bass, cello, piano, percussion and character voices, tell the stories while dance, puppets and animation mold the dark fairy tales of the Dirty Granny on stage.