Press Reviews       HALF TIME ANALYSIS Press Reviews of the Half Time Analysis of the FNM in April 2005     back    Founded two years ago by the artistic director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Klaus Zehelein, and permanently established since October 2003 on the former barracks grounds of the Römerkastell in Cannstatt, the Forum Neues Musiktheater (FNM) has meanwhile presented a successful balance sheet, in terms of public interest as well. (…) Andreas Breitscheid identifies as one important advantage of his work that the FNM is networked with other avant-garde institutions like IRCAM in Paris, the STEIM in Amsterdam, and the ZKM in Karlsruhe. It has also worked with universities, like the University of California in Berkeley, in workshops, for example, on the designing of new computer programs to transform physical actions into electronic sounds. The recent concert with Laetitia Sonami and her Lady’s Glove provided an opportunity to see it in action. Long-term collaborations are planned with Studio Azzurro of Italy, whose interactive sound installation Tamburi is currently on view at the Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg in Berlin, and with William Forsythe and his new ballet company, who have developed the media aspects of their latest choreographies in collaboration with the FNM. The possibility of realizing performances of its planning creation, even productions suitable for audiences—currently eighty to a hundred visitors attend the performances—would be a unique opportunity internationally, according to Zehelein and Breitscheid. Cannstatter Zeitung “Every well-run business has a laboratory in which it plans and secures its future. We here in Stuttgart have a very successful opera. It represents many years of work, and such work will have to be continued in the future as well. Securing the future is the core task of the Landesstiftung.” Eiselstein called attention to the larger context: “Art cannot be ignored when securing the future of our state. Education and the involvement of citizens only function with art.” Another plus for the Forum is that it searches far and wide for contacts and networks for its experimentation, taking advantage of new media. Prof. Claus Eiselstein, secretary of the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg, as quoted in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten Klaus Zehelein and Andreas Breitscheid see their “combination of continued education, laboratory, and performances that has established itself internationally” as a model project that looks to the future. In collaboration with institutions in Paris and Amsterdam that are among the leaders in Europe for new music, the applicability of media technologies and computer-controlled sounds and images for musical theater will be explored in the Römerkastell. Artists from all over the world are coming to Stuttgart to work with the latest software and finest equipment. Stuttgarter Zeitung
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