Hermann Hesse Concert

with Anselm König and Beat Riggenbach


March 12, 8:00 P.M.
U-M Residential College Auditorium
Free Admission.
Sponsored by U-M RC Deutsches Theater
in cooperation with the Goethe Institut Chicago.

Open country--deep as the sky, search for happiness and longing for peace are what the the two "poetry musicians", Anselm König (voice, guitar) and Beat Riggenbach (saxophone), aim to project. They start playing where many people today give up: at the hectic pulse of our hi-tech lives, and they show that there are "windows" right there that lead out into a world constantly at rest, just waiting to be let in.

Experience Hermann Hesse in a whle new way. König and Riggenbach have set the poems of Hermann Hesse to music in a vivid and sensitive transferral that lifts the poems into a whole new dimension.

The Anselm König Band has been widely praised by music critics for its unique linking of poetry with modern music. As one critic put it: Their musical compositions "are considered extremely sensitive, thoughtful, and refreshingly 'groovy'." (BZ= Berliner Zeitung). Their new album of Hesse songs "Stufen" (Stages) is available through book and music stores. It was recoreded with first-rate guest musicians and was hailed enthuasiastically by critics. The newspaper "Rheinpfalz" wrote on Aug. 9, 2002: "In cleverly conceived arrangements consisting of voice, guitar, saxophon, bass and percussion, Hermann hesse's poetry is heard in a completely new metre: poem'n'beat. With their successful adaptation of sixteen exemplary poems from "Stufen" to "keine Rast" (no rest) to "Steppenwolf". . . the Anselm König Band pays homage to the poet whose verses are still as up to date and authentic as always. . . Wonderful that Herman Hesse remains so alive and accessible to us."

The concert promises "first rate music poetry." With their anniversary program "Stufen", authorized by Suhrkamp Publishers, the Duo will perform for the first time on stage songs from the Black Forest, Lake Constance, Engadin, and Tessin, four regions where Hesse lived, which left their imprint on his literary creations.

For more information on the program, visit the Goethe Institut website at www.goethe.de/uk/chi

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