Staatskapelle violinist Alexander Ernst and former solo timpanist Bernhard Schmidt, together with son and grandson Konstantin Schmidt, spotlight their second passion: electronic music. They have created a particular style that celebrates the great role models of the 1970s while expanding on the electronic music of today. Played with classic analogue synthesisers and modular systems, supported by step sequencers and drums, pre-programmed sequences are combined with improvised elements to create a delightful interaction between musician and machine. And the audience has a unique opportunity to hear the theremin, one of the pioneering electronic instruments that helped create the genre. Don’t miss one of these rare concerts where the musicians bring their analogue synthesiser treasures from the studio to the stage and engage in some live music-making.

With their Dresden band »Cocktail Napkin«, Casey Ouzounis and Caroline Beach offer an oscillating mix of electropop, glam-folk and Dada. Above all, they play with and subvert the universal language of pop using different styles and identities, body images, genders and rhythms, pop and »culture«. »Cocktail Napkin is a head-spinning drink – a mix of iconography, semiotics and light jazz along with olives and more than a few stolen identities. Electropop, glam-folk and Dada all go into the mixer. Fancy a tall, cold drink? Cocktail Napkin has already finished it off. Sorry. Cash only. And don’t call me baby, baby.« Have fun!

Caroline Beach is a German based, Texas born choreographer who thinks of herself as a cartoon artist working in the medium of dance. She has made work for a multitude of spaces including theaters, galleries, off-spaces, the Internet, and most recently, a media storage closet.

Casey Ouzounis is a gender fuck from Dresden. Born in Canada they identify as a singer, dancer, and over all transcendental being. With a generational family background in circus and percussion Casey developed their love of performance and choreography from an early age.

»Cocktail Napkin« online: cocktailnapkin.bandcamp.com

Many regard it as perhaps Jacques Offenbach’s best operetta: »Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui/Mr. Cauliflower will be at home«, known in German as »Salon Pitzelberger«. On this evening, Semper Zwei is transformed into the salon of the newly rich Julius von Pitzelberger when members of the State Opera Chorus inhabit the roles of the eponymous protagonist, his niece Ernestine and her lover Casimir (an unsuccessful composer), who end up miming the Italian opera stars Henriette Sontag, Giovanni Battista Rubini and Antonio Tamburini in order to save the soiree ... 

With a great deal of farce, Nestroyian wit and the enchanting melodies of Jacques Offenbach, everything is fair game for parody: the nouveau riche, young lovers, the high society, Italian opera and its friends – in other words, all of us. Incidentally, the premiere took place in Paris on 31 May 1861 in the presence of Emperor Napoleon III. »Salon Pitzelberger« was last performed at the Saxon State Theatres in 1966 – so it’s high time for a revisit!

Synopsis
At the Salon Pitzelberger
The nouveau riche entrepreneur Julius von Pitzelberger invites the Parisian »upper crust« to his salon for a private musical soiree with famous Italian opera singers such as the soprano Henriette Sontag, the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini and the baritone Antonio Tamburini. However, all three cancel at the very last minute. In the meantime, Pitzelberger’s niece, Ernestine, secretly meets the composer Casimir Canefas. When she asks her uncle to invite the young man to the soiree, Pitzelberger refuses, saying that a poor musician is not a worthy husband for his niece. In a desperate attempt to save the soiree, Ernestine pretends to be the soprano Henriette Sontag; moreover, she insists that her lover Casimir impersonate the tenor Rubini and her uncle disguise himself as the baritone Tamburini. With the help of Pitzelberger’s servant Brösel and maid Marie, the deception works: the guests are impressed by the magnificent »Italian« singers. Intoxicated by success, Julius von Pitzelberger finally gives permission for his niece to marry the composer Casimir Canefas; he even provides a dowry to ensure that the young man keep the secret of the soiree’s performers.