Programs and projectsEducationFuture Lab›Africa Is Coming‹›Africa is coming‹

›Africa is coming‹

You Always Have a Choice!

Only nine months after the tremendous success of the spoken opera ›Faust II‹, approximately 180 musicians and students are working on the next open-air project. This year as well, many local sponsors and Bremen organizations will actively contribute to the project ›Africa Is Coming,‹ and the entire neighborhood will be involved. In the two consecutive phases of the project, the students of the Gesamtschule Bremen-Ost are devoting themselves to African culture, focusing on Ghana as an example.

Menu Phases of the Project Open-Air Concerts in Osterholz-Tenever Participants

March 2010: During the first presentation of the workshop results at the school, members of the gospel choir Joy of the Lord sing African gospel songs with students from the Gesamtschule Bremen-Ost. Emmanuel Gomado rehearsed African dance with 5th- and 6th-grade students. They were accompanied by students from class 6.7, who provided African sounds with their drumming.

Phases of the Project Africa at Our Doorstep During the first phase, ›Africa at Our Doorstep,‹ ten classes at the Gesamtschule Bremen-Ost - from the 6th grade to the upper-grade advanced music course - are examining aspects of African culture. Art, dance, song, fashion, theater, cooking, and, of course, music are studied with experts from Africa who live in Tenever or Bremen. They are supported by the Tenever Mothers' Center and the gospel choir Joy of the Lord. The goal of this project is to overcome prejudice and reservations. The results will be incorporated into the second phase of the project. Africa in OTe In May, musicians from Ghana will visit the school to work with the students and musicians of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Portions of the workshops from ›Africa at Our Doorstep‹ will be presented. Together with the well-known jazz musicians Mike Herting (piano), Bern Keul (bass), and Bert Smaak (drums), The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, under conductor Alexander Shelley, will present contemporary African works by such composers as Abdullah Ibrahim. As the highlight, the Ghanaian musician and educator Morphius Eurapson-Quaye will rehearse a joint performance by GSO students, musicians of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and his students from the Centre for Talent Expression in Winneba, Ghana. Director Silke Lange will combine these diverse elements into a magnificent music and theater spectacle. The work is based on the novel ›Chronicler of the Winds‹ by the Swedish best-selling author, Henning Mankell, and tells the story of a boy who is the leader of a band of street kids. When one of them becomes mortally ill, the boys create an ›island without fear‹ for him, fulfilling his last wish.

Open-Air Concerts in Osterholz-Tenever TThe second phase of the project will culminate in two performances on 20 and 21 May 2010, conducted by Alexander Shelley and - like ›Faust II‹ - outdoors in Osterholz-Tenever. Altogether, more than 180 students and musicians from Germany and Ghana will appear together. Photo left: Preliminary sketches for the set by stage designer Lea Dietrich. The stage will consist of wooden pallets laid out on a vacant area on Neuwieder Street. The musicians themselves may sit in small shacks, like those typical of African slums.

Students from the theater team rehearsed the first scene on the subject of memory and presented it onstage. Photos: Students from class 6.2 at the Gesamtschule Bremen-Ost

Participants Alexander Shelley, Conductor Silke Lange, Director Mike Herting, Piano Emmanuel Gomado, Trommel/Tanz Simon Zigah, as the ›Chronicler‹ Students from the Gesamtschule Bremen-Ost Musicians from Africa/Ghana Morphius Eurapson-Quaye and his students from the Centre for Talent Expression (Winneba, Ghana) The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen Christin Bokelmann, Costumes Lea Dietrich, Stage Designer Jörg Hartenstein, Lighting

This page was last changed on 19-05-2010, 12:03 PM