Across the sea

"Across the sea"
A special kind of ocean exploration

Content:

It is places of longing like the sea that inspire all the arts in equal measure. Actress Barbara Auer and pianist Olena Kushpler create a natural symbiosis of poetry and music - for their literary-musical evening "Across the Sea", the two have woven works by the greatest poets and musicians into a dense program. Lesser-known poets such as the Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanık meet prominent heavyweights such as Charles Baudelaire and Else Lasker-Schüler. This is accompanied by works by composers that everyone knows, such as Claude Debussy, and those that are more likely to ring a bell in the minds of enthusiasts, such as the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu. The theme of the evening itself is as broad as the range of the artistic program: Here, the sea as a source of inspiration sometimes becomes an idyll saturated with wanderlust, sometimes a threatening elemental force.

Barbara Auer

The German actress Barbara Auer grew up in Constance. After graduating from the Heinrich-Suso-Gymnasium in her home town, she studied acting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg, graduating in 1981. Auer gained her first stage experience at the Stadttheater Mainz, the Städtische Bühnen in Osnabrück and the Schauspielhaus Wuppertal, among others. She made her debut in front of the camera in 1982 in Alexander Kluge's romantic drama "Die Macht der Gefühle". This was followed by engagements in the television series "Lenz oder die Freiheit" and "Das Milliardenspiel". However, Barbara Auer only celebrated her breakthrough as a television actress in 1988, when she played the role of Jessica, a crane operator from the GDR, in the TV production "Der Boss aus dem Westen", directed by Vivian Naefe. In the same year, she was awarded the Golden Camera for Best Young Actress for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Jessica. Numerous engagements in cinema and television films followed, making Auer one of Germany's most renowned character actresses.

In 1990, she appeared in "Herzlich willkommen", directed by Hark Böhm, and in Franz Xaver Bogner's directorial debut, the grotesque "Café Europa", alongside top-class stars such as Mario Adorf, Ottfried Fischer, Elmar Wepper and August Zirner. In the same year, she played a revolutionary-minded young student named Jana in "Eine Wahnsinnsehe", directed by Sönke Wortmann, who questions the political views of a policeman and is ultimately able to change them. Two years later, she attracted a great deal of attention from critics and audiences when she played a doctor desperately trying to free her kidnapped child from her ex-husband in "Meine Tochter gehört mir". She received her second major award for this performance in 1993 with the German Film Award.

The late nineties brought Barbara Auer a series of engagements that significantly shaped her career. These included the leading role in Frank Beyer's top-class literary adaptation "Nikolaikirche" alongside Ulrich Mühe, Otto Sander and Ulrich Tukur, her performance in Nico Hoffmann's psychological thriller "Solo für Klarinette" with Götz George, Corinna Harfouch and Barbara Rudnik as well as the role of Gertrud Venske in Hartmuth Schoen's TV multi-part "Warten ist der Tod". In 2001, she was once again nominated for the German Film Award for her performance in "Die innere Sicherheit" by Christian Petzold. In this film, Auer played a terrorist who leads an underground life with her family and does not allow her daughter any freedom for fear of the police. In the following years, she appeared in Margarethe von Trotta's "Ich bin die Andere" and in "Einfache Leute" by Thorsten Näter, among others. In 2012, she received the German Television Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Günter Rohrbach Film Award and the Grimme Award for her outstanding performance in the TV film "Das Ende der Nacht".

Olena Kushpler

The Ukrainian-German pianist Olena Kushpler is praised by audiences and the press for her sensitive and colorful playing. "It's impressive how she manages to captivate the listener. Time seems to stand still." (NDR Kultur). She was described as a "great storyteller" by the Hamburger Abendblatt.

The multi-award-winning pianist has performed in internationally renowned concert halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Musikverein Vienna and many others, as well as at major festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Saar Music Festival and many more.

Her artistic activity is documented in numerous CD recordings on the Capriccio label (including piano works by Federico Mompou) and radio recordings and has been broadcast on BR, NDR, SWR and Deutschlandradio Kultur, among others.

In addition to her solo and chamber music performances with Peter Schreier, Martin Grubinger, Zoryana Kushpler and her Bonnard Trio, among others, Olena Kushpler has conceived and performed literary-musical programs with stage partners such as Roger Willemsen, Iris Berben, Barbara Auer, Ulrich Tukur, Christian Redl and Charly Hübner and, as founder and artistic director, directed the "Kontraste" festival.

She has won the Masefield Prize from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation and has received scholarships from several foundations, including the DAAD, the Emma Beit Foundation, the Budge Foundation and the Franz Wirth Foundation. She was also awarded the Ritter Prize by the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation and received the Berenberg Culture Prize.

Olena Kushpler first studied at the Music Academy in Lviv with Josef Jermin before completing her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Volker Banfield and Evgeni Koroliov. She received valuable artistic inspiration in her collaboration with Wolfram Rieger and Norman Shetler as well as in her postgraduate studies in chamber music at the Cologne University of Music with the Alban Berg Quartet.

In fall 2021, Olena Kushpler released her fifth album on the AvI label, dedicated to piano works by Leoš Janáček.