Levit does climate protection too

The pianist is known as a public speaker and as someone who consistently raises his voice in the fight against antisemitism. In early January, the International Auschwitz Committee honoured him for his commitment to fighting racism and antisemitism. At the press conference for the event at Futurium, Levit made it clear he also has a clear stance when it comes to climate protection: to him, the issue is of gigantic importance, and he’s convinced that the music world should take a stand too. It’s not so much a question of how often an artist travels by plane: “There’s a discrepancy between the needs of one’s own ego and climate policy. And that’s what this evening is all about.”

For his excursion into the climate topic, Levit has teamed up with experts: namely with “vollehalle” – a group of four with the most diverse backgrounds, who use their performances to surf the big wave of climate protection. However, they don’t want to engage in finger-pointing or scare tactics: “The discourse needs a different tone of voice. We don’t want to leave our audience feeling terrified and unable to act,” Kai Schächtele explains. On the contrary: the format aims to inspire people to take action in their own lives. Following shows on the issues of meat consumption, air travel and car driving, “vollehalle” want the audience of their new show to understand the climate crisis as a symptom, not a cause. “The question is not: how much meat do we eat or how often do we fly? But rather: what economic logic are we stuck in? Or how do we need to think about democracy and fairness in such a way that we can come up with new answers?”

In March, those acquainted with the quartet can look forward at Futurium to meeting up again with some tried-and-tested characters: the capitalist with the liberal-conservative FAZ newspaper in his hand always trying to provoke; the artist delivering facts. “Our ultimate goal is to remain conversational and conciliatory,” says Michael Bukowski. In doing so, the dystopian scenario needs to develop into a utopian one – “without offering false hopes,” Bukowski promises.

As a format that breaks new ground in a familiar discourse, vollehalle aim to involve almost all the senses, namely, by using the spoken word together with images, interview clips and music too. Talking with the audience is an integral part of the programme. vollehalle are particularly pleased that Igor Levit will be joining them as their first live music act: “We never dreamed this would happen,” says Maren Kling. There have been a few portents, though: a little flirtation on Twitter between the pianist and Bukowski; Levit’s visit to the climate show; his invitation to vollehalle to a classical concert.

The pianist says that climate activist Luisa Neubauer had taken him to a vollehalle performance at Berlin’s Zoopalast in the autumn. “It was a wonderful evening because it was so lively. I sat there and immediately thought: I want to be part of this too!” And he started wondering how the climate show could be enriched to make it even more emotionally tangible. The solution was obvious: “What’s music other than a description of a condition? And that’s how I see my task on 6 March: I try to trigger what happens in the area between the words and the images.”