Kurt Weill must be ‘contemporary and multi-disciplinary’

A new director was chosen today for the Kurt Weill Festival in the composer’s birthplace, Dessau.

Jan Henric Bogen, 35, convinced the board of the Kurt Weill Gesellschaft (KWG) with his artistic concept of the festival: His programme will center around a contemporary and multi-disciplinary reading of the works of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries. Mr. Bogen wants to both internationalise the festival and strengthen its roots in the region.

He also likes having his cake and eating it. Wait, it gets worse:

Currently Mr. Bogen works as Deputy Artistic Director at Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. He states: ‘I am very happy to be leading such a renowned festival. I want to continue the festival’s success and sharpen the festival’s profil even more. The ever-so-diverse works of Kurt Weill and his archetypical biography of otherness offer an endless source of inspiration to artists – especially today. I understand myself as an enabler and catalyst. I want to create the best possible conditions for exciting encounters between artists and our audiences.’

Pity the poor composer.