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WHEN I DIE

A GHOST STORY WITH MUSIC

A true story: Rosemary Brown, widow and mother of two, lives in a town house in Balham, South London. In November 1964 the ghost of Franz Liszt visits her and asks her if he could dictate a couple of compositions to her which he could not finish in his lifetime. Brown who does not have a musical education, agrees. Shortly after this incident, Johann Sebastian Bach comes to her with the same wish – and immediately after this there are Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven – joined later by John Lennon and Albert Einstein. In the following years Brown gets up at half past six every morning, has breakfast and then receives deceased composers for a musical dictation between eight and two and between three and six o’clock. These sessions create among other works a forty pages long sonata and twelve Lieder by Schubert, a fantaisie impromptu by Chopin and two sonatas as well as the tenth and eleventh symphonies by Beethoven. Rosemary Brown herself dies in London in 2001.

On the basis of this story and the dead composers’ music, director Thom Luz has built a magical, fine-tuned and eerie performance with actors and musicians who seem to have emerged from another dimension. The atmospheric musical piece is spellbindingly beautiful and poignant, at times even amusing. It creates space that allows you to turn off your intellect.

With Suly Röthlisberger, Jack McNeill, Daniele Pintaudi, Samuel Streiff, Mathias Weibel

Director and Stage Design Thom Luz
Musical Director Mathias Weibel
Costume and Light Design Tina Bleuler
Dramaturgy Markus Dross
Technical Director/Light Li Sanli
Sound Design Martin Hofstetter
Assistant Stage Design Corinne Dettwiler
Programm Book Simon Renggli
PR/Communication Ramun Bernetta
Production Management Gabi Bernetta

Production
Thom Luz and Bernetta Theaterproduktionen

Coproduction
Gessnerallee Zürich, Spielart Festival München, Kaserne Basel, Südpol Luzern, Theater Chur

Diffusion
Bernetta Theaterproduktionen and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne

Language German/English/French
Subtitles English
Duration 75 Min. without Pause
Rights schaefersphilippen Köln

Premiere 27. November 2013 SPIELART FESTIVAL München

With the Support of
Zurich City of culture, Canton of Zurich service of culture, Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Migros Cultural Percentage, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Georges & Jenny Bloch Foundation