PERFORMANCE DETAIL

 

Norwegian choreographer, director, and filmmaker Jo Strømgren was inspired primarily by Mahler's songs, excerpts, and melodies. Moreover, he found inspiration in what Mahler heard around him and what was significant for Mahler’s home, which was the multinational and multicultural Austro-Hungarian Empire that was slowly falling apart.

Jo Strømgren's creative endeavour is neither a reconstruction of Gustav Mahler's memories nor a recreation of his childhood and boyhood in Jihlava, which was the place where Mahler perceived the musical culture of this region very sensitively and which was later partly reflected in his work. The choreographer is more concerned with creating a poetic image of Gustav Mahler’s world and Gustav Mahler as a human being. The inexhaustible source of Strømgren's inspiration is especially the modernity, topicality, and attractivity of Mahler's music that comes from the combination of diverse elements. Among his other authentic projects and his own dance company, Jo Strømgren has worked as a residential choreographer at the Norwegian National Ballet, he has collaborated with many significant institutions such as The Royal Danish Ballet or the Vienna State Opera. He has created over 150 choreographies in more than 60 countries and films.