(August 10, 2017) On Sunday September 3 at 3 pm, the courtyard of the Italian Embassy in Berlin will host a debate between music critics moderated by Deutschlafunk Kultur’s Olaf Wilhelmer, in collaboration with the prestigious Musikfest Berlin. Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, journalist and author Volker Hagedorn, music critic Matthias Hengelbrock and Michael Stegemann, musicology professor at the Technische Universität in Dortmund, will discuss the work of Claudio Monteverdi "The Return of Ulysses to the Homeland" in the context of the production of the great Italian composer, 450 years after his birth. "Critics and artists, unlike what is often said, are not necessarily enemies - emphasizes Eleonore Büning. It is necessary to remember the times when critic and artist played the four-handed piano, as in the case of Hanslick and Brahms. There is, however, no reason to think that all this is a thing of the past. Although past times have not always been as beautiful as we tend to remember. That is why it is important for all those who care for art to work in harmony in favor of art – but still critically. " (Red)

ABOUT / CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

An Italian composer that lived between the end of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century, Claudio Monteverdi marked the transition from Renaissance to Baroque language. Author of madrigals and theatrical works, he was brought from his dramatic sensibility to an innovative treatment of voices and instruments to better express the meaning of the poetic text. (Source: Treccani)