William Kentridge
The Philharmonie Luxembourg, Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and Grand Théâtre de la Ville, three of Luxembourg’s major cultural institutions, continue their innovative red bridge project, building bridges, both geographically and artistically, between music, dance, performance and visual arts. After the successful first edition with the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, for 2020/21 the second edition of the red bridge project looks to the work of William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg). Over the past three decades, Kentridge has created a unique oeuvre that spans many different disciplines from drawing, film and sculpture to performance, theatre and opera. The red bridge project invites the audience to discover and explore his multifaceted work in a programme encompassing solo exhibition, performances for stage, and a new opera production.
Events
Exhibition: William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance – Mudam Luxembourg
Until August 30
This new exhibition developed for Mudam presents new and recent drawings, sculptures, sound and film works. It includes films and a series of drawings linked to Kentridge’s opera Waiting for the Sibyl (2019) and his most recent film City Deep (2020), the sound installation Almost Don’t Tremble (2019), the acclaimed multichannel projection More Sweetly Play the Dance (2015).
TalentLAB goes red bridge project – Grand Théâtre
May 28 – June 6
TalentLAB seeks to elicit curiosity, enlarge the field of possibilities as well as facilitate exchanges between artists and audiences. A collaboration with the Centre for the Less Good Idea, founded in Johannesburg by William Kentridge in 2016, will see a group of artists from South Africa join the other project leaders and their teams, to work for ten days on a 20-minute scratch performance and to attend performances, workshops, lectures and master classes.
Film and concert: Paper Music – Grand Théâtre
June 5, 8pm CEST
June 6 5pm CEST
Paper Music is a witty, poignant, song-and-film cycle uniting films, mostly animations, based on William Kentridge’s charcoal and ink drawings, with live musical performances by vocalists Ann Masina and Joanna Dudley as well as pianist Vincenzo Pasquariello. A fascinating exploration of the relationships between sound and image, Paper Music is one of many projects in the long-time, ongoing collaboration between William Kentridge and his South African compatriot, composer and sound artist Philip Miller.
Workshops: Une fanfare dada – Grand Théâtre, Mudam, Philharmonie
June 5, 10am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm CEST
June 6, 10am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm CEST
Conceived as three autonomous but complementary workshops, Une fanfare Dada offers the possibility to explore different aspects of William Kentridge’s work through the prism of one of his major references: dadaism. The workshop series ends with a jovial stroll from the Grand Théâtre to the Mudam and the Philharmonie, crossing the red bridge and showing the creations developed during these workshops as a lively exhibition.
Chamber Opera: Sibyl – Grand Théâtre
June 11, 8pm; June 12, 8pm; June 13, 5pm CEST
William Kentridge’s Sibyl is a performance for three dancers and choral ensemble of six, divided in two parts, The Moment Has Gone and Waiting for the Sibyl. The work incorporates signature elements of Kentridge’s visionary practice—projection, live performance, recorded music, and shadows cast by live performers on a hand-painted backdrop.
Conversation between William Kentridge and Denis Hirson, moderated by Suzanne Cotter – Mudam Luxembourg
June 12, 4pm CEST
This conversation between William Kentridge and British writer and poet Denis Hirson is organised on the occasion of the launch of the publication À pas de panthère. Conversations entre William Kentridge et Denis Hirson (Copublished by Mudam Luxembourg and Éditions Dilecta, 2021).
Puppet Chamber Opera: Il ritorno d’Ulisse – Philharmonie
November 4 and 5, 7pm CEST
As a myth in the best sense—timely yet timeless—William Kentridge brings Homer’s Odyssey as recounted in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria into our own times through his characteristic visual idiom, replete with associations and references. Early music meets puppet theatre.
Performance: Ursonate – Théâtre des Capucins
November 12, 8pm CEST
In his performance of Kurt Schwitters’ renowneded Ursonate from 1932, William Kentridge turns the seminal dada sound poem into a multimedia performance: his rendition, in which he is joined by the tap dancer Peter Kuit and the improvising vocalist Ariadne Greif, cannot be perceived merely by ear—one must also see it.
Complete programme: redbridgeproject.lu
