On Friday at 8 pm, the Kurt Weil Fest 2024 will kick off its 32nd edition with an opening concert in the main auditorium of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau. Musical performer Tom Schimon, soprano Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod, the clarinet duo Gurfinkel and the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau guarantee an extremely varied program. The Lazylectric trio will perform a mixture of jazz, Latin and lounge music at the opening reception from 10 pm.

With the play “Am Rande des Orbits”, director Sahar Rezaei accompanies two very different women on Saturday at 7 pm in the Altes Theater as their thoughts revolve around women’s rights, physical self-determination and solidarity during a sleepless night. Also on Saturday, Andrea Sawatzki will read from Anne Frank’s diary at “Im Hinterhaus” at 8 pm. Accompanied by cellist Eva Freitag, the actress and author will use her incisive voice to transport the audience to what was probably the most horrific time in Germany’s history, the victim of which was a young girl whose experiences, fears and wishes in the moving texts of her diary are a central testimony against forgetting.

According to “Deutsche Bühne”, “The new Dessau production of “Tristan und Isolde” […] is a musical event!”. For the “junge Welt”, “Michael Schachermaier’s production […] proves to be a rare stroke of luck” and the “neue musikzeitung” praises an opera version “with a maelstrom effect, an orgy of sound, a celebration of the finest, narcotic transitions and dramatic climaxes” and even tips its hat to those involved “Chapeau!”.