Devid Striesow & Markus Becker - Harbour Front Literaturfestival

Poetry and Music on Darkness
Nighttime Poetry and Prose

From Novalis and Heine to Strindberg and Kaleko in dialogue with Bach’s Goldberg Variations and piano improvisations.

The romantic dream world of Heine and Novalis, the urban poetry of Mascha Kaleko, Strindberg’s paranoia, Kafka’s insomnia, Beckett’s surreal monologues, Freud’s interpretation of dreams—they paint a picture of the night as a space for fantasies, nightmares, longings, safety, or vulnerability—as a counterworld to the daily grind, as a projection of fear, happiness, death, and love, and as a symbol of all our dark sides.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations—composed some three hundred years ago as an epoch-making commissioned work for entertainment during nocturnal insomnia—enter into a close dialogue with the texts, at times as a musical twin, at times in contradiction, at times in mutual interpenetration, and at times transformed through improvisation.

Markus Becker is one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. He studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and received significant inspiration from Alfred Brendel. As a soloist and chamber musician, he collaborates with renowned orchestras and artists; his recordings of Reger’s works have received numerous awards. He is a professor at the Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media.

Devid Striesow was a member of the ensemble at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus and performs regularly at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. He is currently appearing in “Oedipus” and the ancient cycle “Anthropolis,” followed this fall by its sequel, “Fremde Sonne.” He gained fame through films such as “Lichter,” “Yella,” and “Die Fälscher.” In addition to theater, film, and television, he is a sought-after narrator for readings and audiobooks.