2021 - Boston - Goethe-Institut Boston

Together Apart

A new choreography by the Boston Dance Theater conceived for video

Commissioned by the Goethe-Institut Boston, Boston Dance Theater creates a new choreography which translates themes of division, polarization, reunification and coming together into the language of contemporary dance. The work plays hommage to three decades of German reunification and at the same time reflects the current state of American society. The pandemic lends the theme additional timeliness.
BDT dance video Event information

Kati Marton "The Chancellor"

Acclaimed biographer Kati Marton in conversation with Sabine von Mering, Director of the Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University on Marton’s new biography, The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel on December 7, 2021.

In Conversation with composer Jörg Widmann

Andris Nelsons conducts the American premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI) for trumpet and orchestra featuring Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on November 18-20, 2021 at Symphony Hall, Boston MA.

BEETHOVEN’S SEPTET GOES MODERN

Featuring commissions by composers Heather Stebbins and Diana Rodriguez, performed by Sound Icon and Winsor Music. November 17, 2021

Sound Icon Ensemble
Winsor Music
Diana M. Rodriguez
Heather Stebbins

Authors in Conversation: Rachael Cerrotti and Julie Lindahl

Two storytellers turn to their own family’s history to explore how their grandparents survived the Nazi Regime. Online Conversation, October 25, 2021.

Cerrotti/Lindahl © Julie Lindahl©Kajsa Göransson/Rachael Cerrotti©private Cerrotti/Lindahl

Recording Website

Authors in Conversation: Ulla Lenze and Marshall Yarbrough

German author Ulla Lenze and her translator, Marshall Yarbrough about Lenze's first publication in English, The Radio Operator.
Online conversation, October 21, 2021

Ulla Lenze/Marshall Yarbrough © Ulla Lenze©Julien Menand/Marshall Yarbrough (c) Sal Robinson Ulla Lenze/Marshall Yarbrough

Recording Website

Authors in Conversation: Sharon Dodua Otoo and Jon Cho-Polizzi

Bachmann-prize winning author Sharon Dodua Otoo and translator Jon Cho-Polizzi about Otoo’s debut novel Ada's Realm.
Online conversation, October 19, 2021

Sharon Dodua Otoo/Jon Cho-Polizzi © Sharon Dodua Otoo © Ralf Steinberger/Jon Cho-Polizzi©privat Sharon Dodua Otoo/Jon Cho-Polizzi

Recording Website

Singer-Songwriter Antje Duvekot

EarthDay@Goethe presents: "Anwesenheit" by Antje Duvekot, commissioned in honor of Earth Day.
Live Performance: May 13, 2021

What better way to communicate the urgency of climate change and the need to restore our Earth than through a song. We asked award-winning singer songwriter Antje Duvekot to compose a song in German and English in honor of Earth Day. A native of Germany living in Somerville, Antje is known for ‘turning fear into resilience and isolation into community’ – listen to her song here!

Anwesenheit
by Antje Duvekot

Hey Coyote, are you out there
Can you lead me to my ancient self
Hey glitter on the water, I think I need help
I keep dry and I keep warm
Got all this shelter from the storm
I can turn summer into winter
and night into day with a swtich
We can turn less into more but we don't anymore understand which is which

Hey perfection of a dew drop, can you lead me to my healing spot?
I thought I was independent, but I guess I forgot
that I've got milkyways in one neuron alone
I've got river beds in my bones
And I am no less a part of this, a part of all this

Show me the road less traveled, let's follow it back to the source
before the balance unraveled, before we lost our course
Auf unserem Sandkorn im Kosmos
Wunder der Anwesenheit
in seiner Zerbrechlich- und Unersetzlichkeit

Hey coyote are you out there
Have we come to a dividing line
Hey pollen on a bee's wing, do we still have the time
to save your habitat with habits that
inhabit that we have the facts
with habits that stop the ransack
We can grow less so you grow back

Show me the road less traveled, let's follow it back to the source
before the balance unraveled before we lost our course
Auf unserem Sandkorn im Kosmos
Wunder der Anwesenheit
in seiner Zerbrechlich- und Unersetzlichkeit

The State of the Arts: Movie Theatres

Mark Anastasio, Programmer at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, and Wiebke and Johannes Thomsen, owners of Kino Lodderbast in Hannover, Germany, in conversation about cinemas during the pandemic. May 5th, 2021

Coolidge/Lodderbast © ©Coolidge Corner Theatre/©Lodderbast Coolidge/Lodderbast

Event Details:
Link to the recording:
Watch the complete conversation

Authors in Conversation: Anja Kampmann & Amy Brady

EarthDay@Goethe presents: "High as the Waters Rise" by Anja Kampmann and "Climate Fiction" by Amy Brady.
Online Conversation, April 22, 2021.

Website

Amy Brady/Anja Kampmann © Amy Brady©privat/Anja Kampmann©Juliane Henrich Amy Brady/Anja Kampmann

Watch the complete conversation

Q&A with Burhan Qurbani

Conversation with the director of Berlin Alexanderplatz, Burhan Qurbani and Roy Grundmann, Professor of Film at Boston University. Online, March 28, 2021.