Festival 2020
Artists
Elia Rediger, born in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a widely-travelled Swiss artist, composer, playwright, and singer. He has written orchestral compositions, was part of the Konzerttheater Bern, was frontman of the pop group The Bianca Story, and took part in the Big Band-Orchesters Brigade Futur3.
He is a founder of the Group2030, which investigates ideas about the future that manifest in contemporary projects. For the Deutsche Oper’s 2019-20 season, Rediger curated the late-night "Aus dem Hinterhalt” programme under the title "Macht den Künsten.”
“Hercules of Lubumbashi” is Rediger’s second collaboration with Dorine Mokha, following their 2017 production “Oh Boyoma.” Based on Handel's Hercules, “Hercules of Lubumbashi” is an oratorio for 11 Congolese and European musicians, a dancer, and a singer. The piece considers the increasing demand for cobalt, its exploitation by international corporations, and the destruction of the local population’s habitat. Together, Rediger and Mokha counter the current dystopian climate by creating new, futuristic imagery in a contemporary documentary and speculative postcolonial music theatre, relying on art's ability not only to formulate a critique, but to envision concrete solutions or alternatives to current conflict situations.
