"ERSTE LETZTE SEKUNDE" (PREMIERE)

Galas are a relic of an era when glamorous public ceremonies drew millions of viewers to their screens and seats. There were gigantic decorations, orchestras, ballets, international star guests, showers of gold, wind machines, and elegantly silver-haired hosts with a wicked sense of humour.

Galas still exist today - probably more than ever, in fact - but they compete in ever-identical formats, interchangeable scripts for hosts and acceptance speeches, and stage designs straight out of Dubai. Absurd trophies are handed out for individual and group achievements in film, music, and theatre, alongside lifetime achievement awards and prizes for civic courage.

When Christoph Marthaler directs a gala, people are still honoured between the overflowing bouquets on either side of the stage - but the gala itself is, for once, the real subject. It celebrates the essence of the gala in every conceivable sound, form, and colour. In Marthaler's gala, the gala throws a musical festival of simultaneity! Past, present, and future of this remarkable art form merge in a single first last second. And because homo sapiens handles that poorly, a question immediately fills the room: what can the gala do that we cannot? Does it offer comfort in the hard moments of change, farewell, and new beginnings? Yes and no - because, as we all know, it is not the gala that passes, but the individual human being, again and again. That is unfair, yet it gives the gala as such a well-founded hope for eternal existence. What a prospect!

A co-production of Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel, Lausitz Festival, and Symphoniker Hamburg.