Etta Scollo Trio & Eva Mattes

To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the great German-Jewish poet Mascha Kaléko, Etta Scollo and Eva Mattes, together with the Etta Scollo Trio, are devoting themselves to an extraordinary stage project between music, poetry and memory. Entitled "Nirgendland" (Nowhere Land), the evening brings Kaléko's subtle melancholy, humor and linguistic precision to life in a new way.

Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) was regarded as the voice of an entire generation. In the Berlin coffee houses of the 1930s, she became instantly famous with her "Lyrisches Stenogrammheft" - her poems reflect the attitude to life in the big city, both perceptive and tender. After fleeing from the National Socialists, she lived in exile in New York and later in Jerusalem. Her texts tell of uprooting, belonging and the search for home - themes that seem more relevant today than ever. "Wherever I travel, I go to nowhere," reads one of her poems - a line that gives the evening its title.

The Italian-German musician Etta Scollo, known for her poetic compositions between chanson, world music and classical music, meets Kaléko's poetry with sensitive musicality. Together with her trio - Susanne Paul (cello) and Tara Bouman (clarinet) - she develops a dense, emotional sound space in which words and music intertwine. Scollo, who has received many awards (including the Ruth World Music Prize and the Order of Merit of Italy 2024), knows how to transform literary texts into music without taking away their independence.

Eva Mattes, one of the most distinguished actresses in the German-speaking world, lends Kaléko's poems depth, warmth and irony with her unmistakable voice. For decades, she has left her mark on theater and film with impressive intensity and sensitivity, whether on stage, in award-winning film roles or as a long-standing Tatort detective. Her presence and sense of nuance lend the evening a special emotional tension and allow Kaléko's words to be experienced directly.

The result is a haunting, multi-layered evening about language, memory and identity - poetic, political, touching.

An evening about the power of art to transcend boundaries and focus on the human.