Musicians of the Gewandhausorchester
Tilo Baumgärtel, Video Installation
Rebecca Viora, Speaker
Tahlia Petrosian, Concept and Producer
The Divine Comedy is universally recognized not only as one of the most significant works of Italian poetry but also as a seminal work in world literature. 2021 marks 700 years since the death of its creator, Dante Alighieri, and, to mark this anniversary, KLASSIK underground presents a three-part Divine Comedy online festival, filmed in the underground Moritzbastei in Leipzig, Germany.
The three parts of the Divine Comedy, commencing in the underworld of “Inferno”, transversing the Mountain of “Purgatory” and concluding with the ascension to “Paradiso”, form the framework for this special KLASSIK underground festival. This voyage will be expressed through a symbiosis of chamber music, performed by musicians of the Gewandhausorchester, recitation of the original Italian text by actress and musician, Rebecca Viora, and a video installation specially created by artist, Tilo Baumgärtel, inspired by William Blake’s 102 illustrations based on the Divine Comedy.
The three concerts, each approximately one hour in duration, will explore the expressive interaction of the musical language of Shostakovich, Kurtág, Ligeti, Hindemith, and Brahms with Dante’s text. The emotional and expressive nature of the performances will be further heightened by Tilo Baumgärtel’s video installation, which will not only be projected in the Moritzbastei during the performance but will also be intercut live into the concert stream.