A European premiere is at the centre of Songs and Poets this time: "Here, Bullet" is one of the most sensational song cycles of recent years and has since won awards and been performed many times in the USA. The US composer Kurt Erickson set poems by Iraq war veteran Brian Turner to music, in which the deployment is described in kaleidoscopic fashion from the perspective of a soldier. Erickson writes: "I approached this work with great respect and a certain disquiet, looking for ways to enhance the raw, visceral power of the poetic descriptions." The cycle is flanked by Russian songs from the 19th century, including Mussorgsky's " Nursery". The juxtaposition of Russia and the USA is also reflected in the choice of poet, who responds to the songs with texts written especially for this evening: Eugene Ostashevsky (born 1968 in Saint Petersburg). He emigrated to the USA with his parents in 1979. He has published numerous books, including the poetry collection "Der Pirat, der von Pi den Wert nicht kennt" (kookbooks 2017), whose translation from American English by Monika Rinck and Uljana Wolf was awarded the City of Münster Prize for International Poetry in 2019. His most recent volume is entitled "The Feeling Sonnets" (NYRB Poets).

***

Classical art songs and modern poetry – lieder recital meets poetry reading in this series of events organised jointly with the Haus für Poesie Berlin.