Berlin Art & Culture Blog
Interview with tenor Ludwig Obst
Photo: James Barnett
What is your background and upbringing?
I was born in Munich and moved to Berlin in 2010 to start my vocal studies at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. After I graduated there I studied one year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London but I moved back to Berlin because I missed the vibe and the freedom of the city and my friends. Besides my work as a tenor I am studying Theater Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.
What got you interested in music?
The ability of music to speak out the unspoken. It releases emotions and although it is a language that is understood all over the world, everyone puts their own meaning to it. Another thing that fascinates me it the social aspect of it. You never make music just for and with yourself. Music is also there to be listened to and this builds communities and breaks down walls.
When did you want to become a performer and how did you go about it?
Although my parents have nothing to do with music or performing art they noticed very early that I always loved to sing, tell stories and perform in front of an audience as a kid. Therefore they registered me to the Tölzer Boys Choir as a 7 year old boy. After a few years of intense musical training I became a soloist and had the unique opportunity to embody the role of „Miles“ in Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera „The turn of the screw“ at the last production of Harry Kupfer at Komische Oper Berlin. At that age I did not really grasp the whole depth of that piece but there was something that totally fascinated and inspired me - something I couldn’t explain, something unspoken which ignited my love for theatre and opera in general.
Then after my voice broke I had a stop singing for a short while and I became a young student for composition at the Munich conservatory. At the age of 14 I restarted to sing - now in the men’s choir of my former choir. It was never a decision that I’ve taken to become a performer. I somehow since then always felt clearly that this is what I want to do and thus I tried it and I’m still trying.
Did other historically relevant artists inspire you?
I don’t really have artistic role models but there are artists of all genres that inspire me: Maria Callas, Hölderlin, Schubert, Benjamin Britten, Paul Klee, Fellini, Almodóvar...
Tell us about tutti d*amore and how did you decide to found it, who is part of it and what concept is behind it?
tutti d*amore is a Berlin-based opera collective that follows the mission to present opera to a new audience in unconventional contexts against the mainstream and the prejudice of its being a dead art form.
Friends from the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler and I founded the collective last year because we felt the need to express our artistic intentions with more freedom and independence and less hierarchal structures and less dogma in comparison to what you usually find in the institutionalized opera business. As we also often perform in night clubs and techno festivals we aim to reach an audience that is not familiar with that art form: show them that it is still relevant, that there is no need to be afraid of it and that it actually also can be fun to watch and listen to.
Is there a mission to your performance art practice?
I want to find alternative forms to represent socially and politically relevant topics on stage - make people find to themselves by touching them emotionally with it in order to become more beautiful and loving creatures of the future.
I AM LIBERATION
Photo: Alexey Bragin
How does Berlin influence your art practice?
Berlin is a melting pot of misfits. It attracts creatures of all over the world that don’t find their place elsewhere. Here they are allowed to explore, express, and celebrate themselves in their utterest weirdness. This is incredibly inspiring. There is an openness to experiments and utopia. Unfortunately this freedom is threatened by the continuous commercialization of the city. Such spaces of exploration are disappearing, increasing rent is displacing people and forces them to obey the system they were originally trying to escape from. Utopian places like Fusion Festival are threatened because the police views them as a safety danger. I hope Berlin will continue fighting against that in order to not lose its ability to inspire.
What motivates you, what is your drive behind your artistic expression?
There are two main motivations to my art practice. The first one is my aim to combine two things that mostly seemed to be excluding each other: transferring oneself to physical extremes on stage without losing vocal and technical sovereignty. For example if you perform in an intense way that is physically tiring you have to breath faster which then influences your singing which requires a sustained air flow. So as an opera singer you always have to find compromises also because you need to sing in a healthy way to not endanger your vocal chords. My motivation is to constantly work on my physical and vocal technique to increase my abilities in order to be able to push those compromises to further limits - thus have a broader acting repertoire.
The other motivation is the beautiful opportunity to work with and on oneself constantly. As a performer you are always doubting yourself. This can be very exhausting but it is also a chance to grow self- awareness in order to become a better person.
FESTMAHL
Photo: Felix Schöllhorn)
You have two productions coming up for the Performing Arts Festival Berlin (PAF). Can you give us a brief synopsis and where and when people can see them?
tutti d*amore celebrates the premiere of its new production at Sisyphos Club on May 29th, 9.30pm. We perform the operetta „Vent du soir“ (in German: „Häuptling Abendwind oder das gräuliche Festmahl“) by Jacques Offenbach whose 200th anniversary it is this year. In the original piece and the German adaption of Johann Nestroy there are two tribe leaders waiting for the „civilized“ to conquer them. It is a shameless critique on nationalism and colonialism. In our adaptation we transfer those undiscovered islands into the last cultural free spaces in the city that are threatened by investors and gentrification. The ticket for the opera also includes the entry to the club night of Sisyphos so there is one more reason to come and see us!
https://www.facebook.com/events/295089394756543/
The other production is the interdisciplinary queer performance I AM LIBERATION that I co-created and co-directed. It will be shown at Village Berlin on May 31st, 8.30pm and June 1st, 6pm. In that performance we combine physical theater elements with live baroque and techno music and explore alternative ways of communication within the gay scene where the display of emotions of any kind is considered more obscene than showing the genitals.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2287448294655281/
What comes after this and what are you long term plans?
After the festival we are going on tour with tutti d*amore. We will be showing our Offenbach production at several techno festivals and in theaters in South Germany. My long term plans are hard to put into words. First at all I want to finish my second studies in Theater Studies at Freie Universität and see what interesting new opportunities will come up after this summer. I will continue to work on my vocal technique and my body, do auditions and hopefully create and produce new own performances.
What is love to you and what do you love?
It may sound cheesy but love is something that grows when you share it. The truely deepest love I feel is the one for my coffee machine - always there for me when I need it…
What would you like to have for your last dinner on Earth and why?
Pierogi by my grandma in Poland. Because she makes the best pierogi in the world.
Ludwig Obst | Tenor
www.ludwigobst.de
www.facebook.com/ludwigobst
