Afterwards: documentary premiere “Shake Stew – Jazz for Everyone” – on April 29th from 10:30 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – The “kulturMontag” presented by Peter Schneeberger on April 29, 2024 at 10:30 p.m. on ORF 2 initially looks at an impending new era at the Vienna Burgtheater, which the Swiss Stefan Bachmann will take over as director from next season. The show is also dedicated to a new documentary about the legendary British design artists Hipgnosis, who designed cult record covers for greats such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and Genesis. It’s also about, among other things, the true espionage story behind the “Third Man”, which is the subject of a new crime novel by historian and author Karina Urbach. Following the magazine, ORF 2 will show the new TV portrait “Shake Stew – Jazz for All” (11:15 p.m.) on the occasion of “International Jazz Day” on April 30th (details on ORF’s focus at presse.orf.at). the exceptional formation of the same name as a figurehead for young, hip jazz in Austria.
A troubleshooter for the castle – what makes neo-director Stefan Bachmann tick?
He is considered an experimental sonny boy and a team-oriented troubleshooter. His productions have a pop culture casualness and exude seductive lightness. The Swiss theater maker Stefan Bachmann will take over the traditional Vienna Burgtheater in autumn and has now presented his plans. For the 56-year-old from Zurich, this is a kind of homecoming, as he worked as an in-house director from 2008 to 2012 and brought his passion for Austrian playwrights to the stage, such as his strange production of Elfriede Jelinek’s “Winterreise” or Ferdinand Schmalz’ “Everyman” rewrite “everyman (dies)”. His love of theater manifested itself during his time as a student of German and general literature, when he spent a lot of time as an extra at the Schauspielhaus Zurich. He later sat in with Luc Bondy in Berlin. He landed his first managerial position at a large theater at the young age of 32 as acting director at Theater Basel, which was named “Theater of the Year” in its first season. From 2013 onwards he was director of the Schauspielhaus in Cologne, where he was, however, a king without a kingdom, as the theater urgently needed to be renovated. The busy Swiss quickly found a replacement stage for his team in former industrial halls and was successful with it too. In complete contrast to the improvised theater halls, Stefan Bachmann is now taking over the venerable Burgtheater. Here he is expected to increase the occupancy figures with his program and thus appeal to new audiences. What does the new castle boss plan to do? How does he see his tasks and challenges as artistic director? And: what makes the neo-director tick? Peter Schneeberger tries to explore this in a conversation with Stefan Bachmann.
The Freaks of the Covers – Anton Corbijn’s documentary about the art of Hipgnosis
What makes a good record cover? For Generation Z or even Alpha, this seems an absurd question, as they consume almost exclusively from streaming services in which only a tiny image appears for the titles. If you go back to the 1960s, you can quickly see that the design of an album cover was often a creative revelation. In particular that of the legendary British design studio Hipgnosis, which made a name for itself with surreal covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Yes, Genesis and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell designed an inflatable pig or a lonely black and white cow, images like those from a drug trip, for Pink Floyd, for example, and thus set standards for generations of Western rock music. Often no photos, names of the bands or titles could be seen in their creations. Most of the time they were commissioned by the musicians themselves and not by management or marketing agencies, who for a long time did not understand that such loose and associative ideas represent small works of art and that the cult drives sales. Anton Corbijn, himself a legendary star photographer who also made an international name for himself as a director with films like “Control” about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, tells the story of the creative minds behind the covers. Companions and friends of Hipgnosis such as Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters and David Gilmour will have their say. The main conversation partner is the photographer Aubrey Powell – the last remaining founding member of Hipgnosis.
“The House on Gordon Place” – The true spy story behind the “Third Man”
British director Carol Reed made film history with the thriller “The Third Man,” starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton. Based on the screenplay by the novelist Graham Greene, in the espionage story about the smuggler Harry Lime alias Welles, Reed shows a post-war Vienna that had not been seen on the screen before: dark sides, war ruins and the sewers, but also picturesque Alleys of the city center and Vienna landmarks such as the Ferris wheel. But behind the Oscar-winning film there is also a true spy story, as researched by the German historian and author Karina Urbach, who works in London. A good portion of the film crew are said to have been real agents. Urbach originally wanted to write a non-fiction book about MI 6’s involvement in the seven-week filming in Vienna in 1948. Since the sources were not sufficient for this because the British secret service is still withholding documents to this day, she turned it into a crime thriller. In “The House on Gordon Place” she wants to expose producer Sir Alexander Korda, screenwriter Graham Green and director Carol Reed as MI 6 spies. Vienna was an interesting place for the filmmakers and their clients. Because in 1948 the Western Allies were under pressure in Vienna. The Soviet Union grew stronger in the region, Czechoslovakia and Hungary became communist, and in June 1948 Soviet troops closed all access routes to West Berlin. Karina Urbach’s father was also in Vienna at that time. He worked for the Counter Intelligence Corps, the military intelligence service of the US Army. It was precisely at this time that three interception tunnels were built in order to tap into Soviet telephone traffic. According to Urbach’s thesis, the wiretapping operation needed a good diversionary tactic. And the filming of the Viennese smuggling thriller was perfect for this.
TV portrait “Shake Stew – Jazz for Everyone” (11:15 p.m.)
Shake Stew are the international flagship of the young Austrian jazz scene. Since 2016, the septet, which has won awards including the German Jazz Prize and the Amadeus Austrian Music Award, has been merging jazz music with driving rhythms and catchy melodies to create a magical mixture that invites both fascinated listening and ecstatic dancing. In the new ORF cultural documentary “Shake Stew – Jazz for Everyone” – shown on the occasion of International Jazz Day (April 30) – the filmmakers Dietmar Petschl and Siegfried Steinlechner accompany the shooting stars at concerts at home and abroad and shed light on their approach and motivation of the individual band members – and not only tell the story of an extraordinary and rousing exceptional formation, but also portray the young, hip jazz from Austria.
Two drums, two basses, two saxophones, a trumpet – with these instruments Shake Stew create their cross-genre and unifying music. Costumes, dance performances and video clips complement the band concept to create a multimedia work of art. The septet regularly refutes the cliché that jazz is difficult, inaccessible music. Shake Stew even inspires an unusually young audience, which the band members actively approach again and again – for example with concerts and sessions especially for school students.
The bassist, composer and bandleader Lukas Kranzelbinder founded the formation on the occasion of a composition commission for the Saalfelden Jazz Festival 2016. The project was originally only planned for one year. However, the great attention that the group soon received internationally encouraged him to continue. The constantly changing line-ups reflect a who’s who of the young Austrian jazz scene – and show how lively and diverse it is. Accessible but never banal, excitingly new, and yet deeply rooted in the jazz tradition – this is the music of Shake Stew.