Covid-Season 20/21 Retrospective

The “Covid Season” 2020/2021 has come to an end. It was a very “dynamic” season, indeed.

The so called Second LockDown dominated the season totally. The theatres were closed for 7 months. I’ve moved three times. From Nürnberg to Saarbrücken with a lot of things, from Nürnberg to Darmstadt with less things and then once within Darmstadt. I’ve learned to know two new towns without really getting to know them since everything was mostly closed.
We’ve all developed unexpected skills in dealing with digital formats and thanks to thinktanks and “coffee tables” online I’ve learned to know new people from close by and from afar and learned a lot about the different conditions for art in different countries.
I taught singing online and, in an attempt to use the time given, started to study cultural management at Institut für Kultur- und Medienmanagement in Hamburg, I also participated in the Team Management programme MMM from Philharmonia Szczecin. The later I have had to quit, due to lack of time, but I found the first phase of the programme very interesting.

My freelance work has been close to non existent. Except some reoccuring work with Compagnia Nuova, a random church service and a jump in for an audio play recording nothing much has happened. I do hope that I’ll manage to find new contacts and reawaken old ones after the summer. I long to sing concerts and work with inspiring musicians.

I have been very lucky though, since I started to work at Staatstheater Darmstadt this season and thus got myself not only a monthly salary but also lovely colleagues and a framework for theatre and music production financially and practically supported by the state. My new employer has focused a lot on plays and activities for children and young people, thus I’ve sang two children’s plays this season; Schaf and Städtchen Drumherum. The theatre was also very successful in adapting it’s programming and it’s productions to formats which were possible to pursue during the pandemic. I participated in two streams and in talks with school classes.

A very rewarding work was the production La Lucrezia/Faust et Hélène which will have its live premiere next season. I truly enjoyed the intense work with GMD Daniel Cohen and with the directors Mariame Clement and Marcos Darbyshire. There was time and space for exchange, experiment and reflection. Pure joy!

I am looking forward to a vacation where I finally can visit my family again and I’ll enjoy the rest. The quick changes, the accelerations and the hard stepping on the breaks have been energy consuming to say the least. But it has been a very fine season never the less. With time and space for meetings, talks and new, exciting music.

My next season, as planned right now (who knows where the pandemic will take us) can be seen under “Calendar” below.