Spring preview - News about the programme

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

It's February. It's cold and grey outside. Tiredness and a lack of vitamin D are steadily increasing. That's why we invite you to join us in looking forward to spring. Because when the sun's rays warm the air outside and the first buds sprout, inside Gessnerallee there will be a wonderful programme of theatre, dance, performance and music. So, get out your diaries for our short but sweet overview.

We start musically with two dazzling and exciting evenings in the North Wing. Modulaw - The Songweaver (28 February) is dedicated to contemporary electronic music, rap and dancehall in a format between concert and installation, weaving its very own story.

The following evening, SONOSYNTHESIS (1 March) brings together musicians from a wide range of backgrounds who are connected across borders and celebrate the release of their joint LP with solo and collective performances.

Afterwards, ‘Movements - myself and the many’ (7 to 10 March) will turn the hall into a space in which change is tried out. Sounding out the relationship between individual perspective and collective power, Monika Truong and her team explore social movements and activist action in all their complexity.

At the same time, London's most sought-after guitarist, singer and producer Alpha Maid will move into Gessnerallee for a fortnight and invites you to a concert (14 March) in the North Wing at the end of her residency.

The following week, the Bernese choreographer Anna Chiedza Spörri will present ‘PERSPECTIVES’ (19 and 20 March), a moving and evocative work about individual and collective experiences of racism in the form of microaggressions. Hip-hop and contemporary dance, spoken word and beats become powerful tools for dealing with discrimination.

And then, at the beginning of April, we are all very much looking forward to the premiere of the new work by director Brandy Butler and team. ‘MITOSIS - an LSD Opera’ (3 to 10 April) is an intense and devoted piece of musical theatre, an opera about dying.

It will be exciting, it will be relaxing, it will be sad, it will be great. And above all, it will be warmer and brighter once again.

Now for the weekly overview of programme items, newspaper articles, news and everything we want to share with you:

Programme recommendations in February

7 and 8 February, both at 8 pm

‘A Certain Darkness Is Needed to See the Stars’ by Ramón Oliveras & Kim de l'Horizon

A solo percussion concert and a ritual performance as an invitation to reconcile oneself with one's own transience and celebrate the beauty of life. More information

21 and 22 February

‘Fragmente’ by Kids in Dance

The dance project organised by the association Kids in Dance brings together young people from Zurich and the surrounding area. The new production is about fragments of a life, a biography, moments, fleeting moments, and memories. More information

28 February, 9.30 pm

‘Modulaw - The Songweaver’

Between concert and installation, Modulaw dedicates ‘The Songweaver’ to contemporary electronic music, rap and dancehall and weaves his very own story from it. More information

Newspaper

We will soon be entering the home stretch for the production of the third issue of our newspaper, which will be published in March. Until then, we are looking back on our favourite pieces from the first and second issues.

‘Das Theater war das Leben, das Leben war Theater’

André Donzé and Küde Brun worked as technicians at the Gessnerallee theatre for a quarter of a century. On their retirement, they reminisce and tell us what interested them even more than the technology: what happens on stage. To the article (Only in German)

Do you enjoy good cultural stories? Or do you know someone who doesn't like going to the theatre so much, but loves reading? Then we recommend a subscription to our printed newspaper, which is published four times a season. It costs CHF 20 (excl. postage) and you can order it directly at zeitung@gessnerallee.ch.

We wish you a good second half of the week and plenty of vitamin D.

The Gessnerallee team