22 Thetis Project
Draft Press Release
In the beginning, there was a message in a bottle, stranded on one of the countless seacoasts. Inside, a celebratory text, an ode to the ancient sea-goddess Thetis, which she had written for her son Achilles, on his way to Troy. It is a text on present and future, of life, love, and death.
With this text, written in 2015 in Ostende in Belgium by Reinhold Urmetzer, the German composer and author has created an opulent aria in a classical retro-style for mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano. That an entire dance-theater with nine tableaux, a migrants’ song, and even a pop song could now come into being (the Song of Thetis), that has touched the hearts of many diverse people – of different native language and background – would Thetis herself not have imagined.
Two additional soli, again developed in a retro-classical style for violin and piano (the Lamento di Thetis) as well as for cello and piano (the Lamento di Achille) underline the plaintive character of the arias. While a techno (EDM) version – produced especially for the Thetis Project – blasts into the rave-warehouses of the world …
The songs find in NatáLia Bálint a doubly-talented performer, who is at home as much in classical as in pop styles. A classically-trained singer with Wagner and Puccini in her repertoire, but with extensive experience in pop and jazz, she is predestined for a crossover project such as this.
Evgeny Alexeev, likewise a classically trained artist and pianist, is NatáLia’s congenial accompanist. He has already built for himself a considerable fanbase in the Russian Federation and beyond with his innovative piano improvisations in classical style.
Reinhold Urmetzer is an experienced journalist, author, and composer. He has published interviews with great minds such as François Lyotard, Niklas Luhmann, Olivier Messiaen, or Wolfgang Rihm, and reviewed numerous classical concerts and operas (his favorite work: Monteverdi’s Orfeo). He finds himself more at home amidst the worldviews of Umberto Eco and pop music than amongst the ideas of the German “Neutöner” and avant-gardists. Last but not least, he owes its openness – and further his love for rock music – to the direct influence of the drummer for the Scorpions, Hermann Rarebell, with whom he began his studies at the Saarland university and music-school, and with whom he was close friends.
His new book – together with, and on, Wolfgang Rihm – is nearing completion at the Musica Mundana Publishing House.
Literature (new):
– Reinhold Urmetzer, “Prosagedichte” [German: “Prose-Poems”], edition weissenburg Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-7386-7887-1
– Reinhold Urmetzer and Grazia Sacchitelli, “Zeitenwende” [German/English: “Change of Times”] “Prosagedichte und Grafik”, edition weissenburg Stuttgart, ISBN 2-3228-4025-1
– Reinhold Urmetzer and Marianne Pape, “Vom Wiederfinden,” Prosagedichte und Retrospektive auf die Weltausstellung Expo 2015 in Mailand [German: “On Refinding,” prose-poems and retrospectives on the World Expo 2015 in Milan], edition weissenburg Stuttgart
Translated by N. Andrew Walsh
