The Project – Once to be realised

Six encounters with the unclassified project files of Jani Christou by Beat Furrer, Barblina Meierhans, Olga Neuwirth, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Christian Wolff

The Greek composer Jani Christou (1926–1970) was one of the great non-conformers of the post-war musical avant-garde who possessed extraordinary talent in both composition and music philosophy. Hardly known outside Greece, Christou worked with elements of twelve-tone music, serialism and musical patterns. In his later works, he developed what he called “metapraxis”, a form of musical composition which integrates elements of theatre, performance and installation art and reflects on social relationships, rites, space, time and light. Christou’s “metapraxis” aimed to develop a “metalogic” of the arts and enable audiences to experience art as a mystical, world-encompassing whole.
The 130 unfinished project sketches in Christou’s “metapraxis” complex are now the basis for a new music theatre project entitled “Once to Be Realized”. These sketches will serve as the starting point and inspiration for new works by six composers from different cultures and generations. The artists are called upon to become acquainted with Christou’s themes and methods and confront them with their own compositional tools. The composers will create formats which combine elements of concert performance, music theatre and installation, refer to Christou’s visionary ideas and vividly present their topicality.
The world premiere will take place during the Munich Biennale in 2020. Additional performances are planned in Berlin, Athens and various international festivals. A co-production by the Munich Biennale, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the ensemble dissonArt from Thessaloniki.

Stage director: Michail Marmarinos
Set design: Yorgos Sapountzis
Concept: Michail Marmarinos, Lenio Liatsou
Dramaturgy: Sebastian Hanusa
Ensemble/orchestra: Cordula Bürgi | with: Cantando Admont, Ensemble dissonArt, Pia Davila (Mezzosopran), Martin Gerke (Bariton), Marius Boehm (Actor), Meik van Severen (Actor), Manon Parent (Dancer), Robyn Schulkowsky (Percussion_Piece by Olga Neuwirth)

Partners: Deutsche Oper Berlin / Tischlerei / Onassis Centre, Athens
Artistic directors: Daniel Ott, Manos Tsangaris
Organiser: Department of Cultural Affairs of the State Capital of Munich