MEDIATHEK

The project was developed for a special series of the Jeunesse Austria „Musik zum Angreifen“ - that invites all Viennese children (age 6 -8 years) to the Konzerthaus Vienna. Since there is no possibility at all to use theatrical material, we decided to hand over the story to the inner eye of the spectator and base it on a musical narration. In a second step, when the project started touring, light design was added.

Music and text play with the typical sounds, structures and legends of the Alps and quote traditional folk music in a contemporary way. The strong musical atmospheres allow an extremely reduced staging. Like a story teller, the singer gives a lot of space for own imagination and does not illustrate the story. The set design supports the minimalistic staging by putting the singing narrator in the center, based on an old traditional sledge. The young audience sits around the center in four different sections. The instruments have the possibility to be part of the story, or to let the sound circle around the audience.

Soundscapes and arias tell a story about curiosity, mystical legends as well as about the strength and importance of nature.

The protagonist Annie grew up in the mountains where her grandmother sang the song of Perchta to her. The legends tell that the Perchta wanders around in special night’s with the lost children, but no one has ever seen them. The legendary figure of „Frau Perchta“ has many names in Europe like: Freya, Frau Holle, Frigga, Dana… Intrigued by the legend little Annie wants to find out more about the existence of the ‚lost children‘.
On her search she encounters many other creatures, that are strongly characterized by the music.

The children are involved in the composition with noise makers. Every group has a moment in the story, where they support the musical atmosphere. Soundscapes of wind, water, hailstorm and stones as elements of the mountains are used for these moments of participation.