The "Wild Jazz Orchestra" has already impressively demonstrated that jazz music is not just for adults with an adaptation of "The Jungle Book". Now composer Martin Auer and the musicians of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra are turning their attention to another children's classic.

“THE BALLAD OF ROBIN HOOD is aimed at people aged 6 to 99, even if children are the demographic most fascinated by the story. We also aim to provide a rudimentary introduction into different musical instruments and styles. »The wild jazz orchestra« fuses big-band and orchestral elements. It boasts drum kit, tuba, guitar, four wind instruments, four strings - and probably a harp, if we can get it heaved from the recording studio to the stage, that is.

In the beginning was the word, and as with THE JUNGLE BOOK before it this will be a narrated concert. Author John von Düffel has re-written the olden-day story of Robin Hood and Rüdiger Ruppert, co-founder of the BigBand of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, has created a concert in narrative form, using the words and music in a ratio of 6:4, sometimes overlapping. Actor Simon Jäger will do all the voices live.

As in works of opera, the characters here coincide with musical motifs - and in some cases instruments – with which the audience comes to associate them. Actually I’m on my honour not to reveal how our Robin Hood is being… Oh, what the heck: Robin Hood is represented by a trumpet! And his antagonist and soon-to-be friend Friar Tuck by a bass saxophone. Along the way the two of them have quite a tussle and there’s plenty of scope for improvisation and prancing about and playing, without which it wouldn’t be jazz. But this jazz stays at the level of narration; the music itself is not tethered to the genre, displaying elements of classical music and pop, too. And it keeps veering towards film score. Anyone paying proper attention is going to get echoes of cinema or gogglebox.” - Composer Martin Auer