{"id":73708,"date":"2026-02-26T10:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/?p=73708"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:41:46","slug":"letter-to-the-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/brief-an-die-amerikaner\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201eLetter to the Americans\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"

Literary-musical collage as part of Klangbr\u00fccken<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, 18 April 2026 - 12-13 h<\/strong>
Marschnersaal, Hanover State Opera
Admission: Pay what you can<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201eAmericans! I am writing to you from the aeroplane that is taking me back to France. I have spent twenty days in New York. But I encountered so many things, so many people, that I have trouble telling whether it was twenty days or twenty years.\u201c
- Jean Cocteau<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

With these emphatic words begins Letter to the Americans<\/em> - a text that has lost none of its topicality to this day. In view of the current political developments in the USA and the global debates on democracy, responsibility and cultural identity, the question of the role of art and intellectuals in turbulent times arises once again. What does transatlantic dialogue mean today? What responsibility does art bear in times of social upheaval?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on Cocteau's book of the same name, Ensemble Megaphon develops a literary-musical collage that brings words and sound into a lively dialogue. Music of different styles is combined with reading passages to create a multi-layered concert experience between reflection and emotion, between historical perspective and contemporary urgency.
Cocteau's text is at once a travelogue, a diagnosis of the times and a passionate appeal. It reflects on the relationship between Europe and America, on artistic freedom in times of political tension and on the unifying power of culture. These thoughts will be placed in a new, contemporary resonance space in the Marschnersaal of the Hanover State Opera. Several commissioned compositions will be created especially for this project, complemented by new interpretations of socially critical pop songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLetter to the Americans\u201c is an invitation to listen, to think and to question - a concert as a bridge between continents, times and artistic forms of expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compositions by:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tatjana Prelevic (UA) \u201e...how many times...?\u201c Performance for piano, violin and two actors 
Arsalan Abedian (UA) \u201cHe didn't want to know what he was doing \u201c for violin, piano, voice and playback
Marijana Janevska (UA) \u201ePersona torrent\u201c for three performers and feed
Lenka Zupkova (UA) \u201eSuperwoman\u201c for voice, electronics, piano and violin
Philipp Glass - \u201cThe poets act\u201d for piano and violin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributors:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lenka Zupkova - Violin
Tatjana Prelevic - piano, concept
Andre Bartetzki - Sound direction\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Christiane Ostermeier and Klaus Angermann - Language <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burkhard Scheller, Franz Betz - Light object<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Excerpts from the book \u201cLetter to the Americans\u201c
from Jean Cocteau<\/a> \u00a9 1949 and 2025 Karl Rauch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, D\u00fcsseldorf ; Translated by Paul Celan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrons:<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
    \n
  • \n
    \n \"Logo:\n <\/div>\n
    Logo: City of Hannover Cultural Office<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
  • \n
    \n \"Logo\n <\/div>\n
    Hanover Unesco City opf Music<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
  • \n
    \n \"Logo\n <\/div>\n
    Logo: Klangbr\u00fccken<\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n

    In co-operation with:<\/h2>\n\n\n
    \n
      \n
    • \n
      \n \"Logo\n <\/div>\n
      Logo Music 21 Hanover<\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Literarisch-musikalische Collage im Rahmen von Klangbr\u00fccken Samstag, 18. April 2026 \u00b7 12\u201313 UhrMarschnersaal, Staatsoper HannoverEintritt: Pay what you can \u201eAmerikaner! Ich schreibe Euch aus dem Flugzeug, das mich nach Frankreich zur\u00fcckbringt. Ich habe zwanzig Tage in Neuyork verbracht. Aber so viele Dinge sind mir begegnet, so viele Menschen, da\u00df ich M\u00fche habe, zu sagen, ob […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuell"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73756,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73708\/revisions\/73756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensemble-megaphon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}