Das Thema & Drážďaňští symfonikové: Mírotvůrci

What does it mean to seek peace in times of uncertainty? This question opens a new Czech-German production titled Mírotvůrci (Friedensstifter) by Das Thema ensemble and the Dresden Philharmonic. Eighty years after the end of a war that left a scorched world and millions of destroyed lives, we live in Europe once again amid tension, with rising polarization, hatred, and racism, and the war in Ukraine as a threat to us all.

The production was created under the artistic direction of Philipp Schenker (CH) and Roman Horák (CZ/DE) in collaboration with musicians of the Dresden Philharmonic under Markus Rindt. It is a musical-documentary work that blends physical theatre with live solo and choral singing and multimedia. It draws from authentic testimonies of World War II witnesses - over twelve hours of recorded material from which the directing duo Schenker and Horák built the dramaturgy of the performance.

The project features singer Monika Načeva, Romani singer and actress Pavlína Matiová, Ukrainian performer Alisa Zichuk, Armenian mime and performer Arman Kupelyan, German multi-instrumentalist Andreas Gundlach, and percussionist Murat Coşkun. Set design and costumes were created by Mathias Straub (Spielraum Kollektiv) and Agáta Molčanová. The music moves between contemporary composition and voiceband, ethno-folkloric motifs, and opera.

"The production emerged from a collective process - it is authored theatre in which everyone participates as a co-creator. The composition oscillates between document and physical theatre, between poetry and musical ritual," describes Roman Horák.