Seven events are planned from May 3 to 27 at various locations in Duisburg. In addition to the central venue, the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle, Nils Szczepanski, director of the Duisburg Philharmonic, and his co-curator Alissa Margulis have included additional “Eigenzeit” locations, namely the MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art, the Lehmbruck Museum, and the Liebfrauenkirche.
Margulis, a German violinist with Russian-Ukrainian roots, is involved in the festival in a dual role: on the one hand as a virtuoso, who will perform symphonic works such as the “Danse macabre” by Camille Saint-Saens or Modest Mussorgsky's “Pictures at an Exhibition” in an intimate trio format with her siblings Natalia and Jura on May 4; on the other hand, as a personality looking beyond pure music-making, known for “showing music from new perspectives while also keeping a transcultural approach in mind” (Nils Szczepanski).
Geographically, the “Eigenzeit” exploration tours unfold between Portugal, France, and Eastern Europe. At the opening, the Fado interpreter António José Rodeia Zambujo brings Portuguese world-weariness to the Mercatorhalle. At the finale in the Lehmbruck Museum on May 27, the musical diversity of Ukraine, Russia, and the Czech Republic will be revealed. Under the motto “Only New in the East,” a string quintet around festival curator Alissa Margulis will perform works by Dvořák, Shostakovich, and the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov.
The “Eigenzeit” festival takes unusual paths in many respects. While the string quartet is considered the royal discipline of chamber music, one has hardly ever heard of a quartet of saxophones. The Eternum Saxophone Quartet offers the opportunity to close this educational gap. The Cologne ensemble, founded in 2017, surprises on May 4 in the Philharmonie with what is presumably the first saxophone quartet in the music literature, composed by the Belgian pioneer Jean-Baptiste Singelée (1812-1875).
The Museum Küppersmühle is also excellently suited as a venue for broadening horizons. On May 21, “Sound and Performance in Dialogue” can be experienced there. The current special exhibition of the painter Dieter Krieg, known for his vigorous painting style and extreme formats, provides the musicians of the Duisburg Philharmonic with the occasion for concert-type sound art.
