In the Wonderful Month of May An evening with Barbara Sukowa and Reinbert de Leeuw

Is it possible to perform Schumann using natural voices, or are romantic songs intrinsically bound to the trained voice of the opera singer? In their new project, theatre and film actress Barbara Sukowa and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw have embarked on a search for possible contemporary interpretations of sings from the Romantic period.

De Leeuw grouped together songs selected from the works of Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert into dramatic combinations, through which Barbara Sukowa strolls with her suggestive parlando and Schönberg-like recitative. Their aim is to convey the romantic message from today's perspective. Barbara Sukowa's performance and de Leeuw's score follow today's style of music and are at times reminiscent of the melancholy art of the chanson.

A response cast in the musical language of a contemporary composer complements this specific interpretative stance. Having chosen four pages from the widely scattered fragments of Robert Schumann's diary, written when he was 18 years old, Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel recombined them to produce an idyllic Mitternachtsstük (Kagel has adopted Schumann's spelling). Kagel has placed particular emphasis on the texts being readily understood, thus creating a work whose orchestration is both gently transparent and at the same time theatrical.