She enjoys an extensive artistic collaboration with the Stuttgart wordsmith and concert poet Timo Brunke. In collaboration, they developed contemporary and diverting new versions of Verdi’s La Traviata, Goethe’s Egmont and Strauss’ Der Bürger als Edelmann. In combination with Brunke’s rhapsodic verbal art, the works acquire a surprising and touching contemporary relevance, speaking to, in particular, an audience of children and young adults. Timo Brunke’s signature style also allows the full humour of Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals to unfold for a new generation of children: a visionary world is revealed in which animals meet and befriend humans eye-to-eye.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is popular the world over. Everyone is familiar with the symphony and its famous Ode to Joy. But despite its familiarity, the curious structure of the symphony is an enigma.
In her lecture, Friederike Kienle elucidates the historical milieu of Beethoven and the structure and meaning of the symphony for a broad audience by means of live musical excerpts – with the aim of giving the audience a deeper insight into Beethoven’s fascinating masterpiece.
“…the ground-breaking novelty of Beethoven’s compositional style in the choral finale is that he is composing then and there in the concert hall, before the eyes and ears of the audience. He doesn’t present the listener with the results of his inner compositional process, but co-composes the search undertaken by the entire audience. In this way, we become one with Beethoven. We search, we suffer, we struggle, we ascend, we come face to face with God. Beethoven has composed something that has the power to empower us. After this journey we feel ecstasy: joy really exists! The individual experiences of each of us when we embark on the symphony is what has made the Symphony No. 9 such a global success.
Even now, after almost 200 years, it continues to move us.”
La Traviata is one of the five most popular and regularly performed works in today’s opera repertoire. Violetta, a courtesan at the height of her popularity decides to renounce her previous way of life, but, tragically, she suffers from tuberculosis and falls victim to the double standards of the bourgeoisie. The depth, passion and tenderness of Giuseppe Verdi’s music transforms this sad story into a timeless fable about love itself.
The rhapsodic interludes written and read by the poet Timo Brunke comment on the action and make up for the missing scenery and staging of ensemble balance’s chamber-opera version of the work. This was written for ensemble balance by Nicholas McRoberts, the musical director of Opéra Montmartre. The score for two violins, viola, cello, double bass, piano, clarinet, flute, bassoon and horn, a beguiling soprano, a magnificent tenor and energetic baritone is sufficient to render the work coherently and authentically. Conducted by Friederike Kienle, the evening of opera will be an unforgettable, compact, cost-effective and flexible experience that can be successfully performed almost anywhere.
Friederike Kienle has been an educator at balance Forum für Musik, a private music teachers’ association in Stuttgart, since 2017. As a cellist and conductor, she has led numerous projects, workshops and concerts for children and young people organised by the association. She works with various institutions such as schools, orchestras, youth orchestras and event organisers. The association has supra-regional networks and is both pedagogically and artistically active. One of its activities is to sponsor the Berger Kirche concert series, of which Friederike Kienle has been artistic director since 2021.
The Carnival of the Animals is a musical gift that is full of different rhythms and beautiful melodies – and full of humour!
Originally described as a “grand zoological fantasy” by Saint-Saens, the suite transports its listeners into a curious in-between world, in which the animals themselves are re-enacting the human carnival. Throughout the performance, idiosyncratic animal figures take over the stage of our imagination. They succeed in bringing to light the deeper meaning of carnival: a transformation of our self-imposed boundaries in a joyful and homely way.
In Timo Brunke’s text version of The Carnival of the Animals, the animals of Stuttgart’s Wilhelma zoo escape from their cages and re-enact the human world with mischievous fervour. Lions, kangaroos, wild asses and tortoises vacate the stage for each other, and the music conveys the scenes in a vivid, free-flowing way.
It is possible that the chamber music version created by the composer himself – written for two pianos, two violins, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, flute and xylophone – is particularly well suited to opening the ears of young listeners to the musical treasures of this work.
That’s why the Ensemble Balance production is aimed at both younger and older children. But it also invites everyone to prick up their ears, rediscover their own favourite animal in the music and discover how comedy is created through music.
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> The Swan:
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In September 2021, Friederike Kienle and her colleagues at the balance Forum für Musik association founded the Berger Kirche concert series. The picturesque, neo-Gothic church in Stuttgart-Berg has been revitalised by this initiative and has rapidly evolved into a centre for music. The focus of the concert series is Ensemble Balance, which has found its artistic home in the series. The series also invites guest musicians from a wide variety of musical genres, who can bring their music to an enthusiastic audience free of artistic restrictions and compromises. With creative ideas such as the Young Stage – a performance forum for young musicians before concerts – and new concert formats, the concert series is characterized by a spirit of innovation.
