Stage director – music theatre at schools

My work as a director has its origins in the self-developed chamber music-theatre productions of the KonzertAkt ensemble. Many years in the independent theatre scene have had a decisive influence on me.

Creating music theatre without a significant budget—making the best possible use of the people, spaces and props available—is a form of creativity that I have embraced.

13 stage productions with my singing class at the HfMDK Frankfurt have allowed this concept and this way of working to mature further.

Finding the most appropriate way to deal with the enormously heterogeneous body of students I instructed in Frankfurt became more and more important. The productions needed to challenge and encourage a wide range of individual talents. Participants included schoolteacher trainees who took singing as a compulsory subject, and extended all the way to those enrolled in BA and MA degrees aiming to perform professionally as singers. Finding a meaningful role for each of these students in any given production is a task that strongly appealed to me. I would like to dedicate myself to similar endeavours in the future.

I have witnessed how an almost random group of people, who share little or no acquaintance with each other, grows together over the course of a production. The aim is to create genuine community and an equally high level of motivation. Essentially, this means ensuring that everyone feels valued and indispensable in their given role.

Not only is this fun; it gives everyone the freedom to sing naturally within their ability, and to enjoy the liveliness they themselves contribute to the beauty of singing! As an instructor, it warms my heart to see how this environment makes students or pupils grow beyond themselves! I find it an extremely rewarding experience!

I would like to offer this music-theatre concept to schools in future. Many of my colleagues teaching music in schools are unable to find the time and energy for such projects, even though they would welcome the sense of purpose and identity their pupils will likely find by participating in them.