Breaking Borders × Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck

"Sound Colours" — A live painting and orchestral performance
Kulturwerft Gollan, Lübeck, Germany — May 3 and 4, 2022

A four-concert collaboration between the Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck and the Japanese ensemble Breaking Borders. Two morning performances for school groups; two evening performances for general audiences.

Performance concept developed by Sophie Steiner. Conducted by Emanuel Dantscher. Live painting by Misaki Ouchi and Shinozaki Yuka. Program: Stravinsky's Firebird, Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth, and Palette by Japanese composer Toshiki Kamiya.

The format moved between live painting on suspended washi paper panels, sound improvisation between the orchestra and the painters, and audience participation — rhythm exercises, vocal improvisation using Japanese calls of good fortune, and oil pastel drawing during the closing piece.

Kikuko Kato, Japan's Consul-General in Hamburg, attended the final concert as guest of honor and spoke to the project's significance for German–Japanese cultural collaboration.

The first concert was recorded by NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) and broadcast as a feature including interviews with the artists and artistic director Sophie Steiner.


From the Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck's season report:

"With 'Sound Colours,' the Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck realized a tremendous and innovative project in collaboration with the Japanese ensemble Breaking Borders. Across four concerts on May 3 and 4, 2022, individual and cultural boundaries were dissolved through art and music and brought into dialogue with one another.

The live painting by Misaki Ouchi and Yuka Shinozaki was deeply impressive. As the music played, energies and emotions found their form through painting with a wide range of colors and tools — from hands to brushes, brooms, and folding fans — in a dance-like performance across a large hanging arrangement of washi paper panels.

All in all, we count 'Sound Colours' as a great success and a forward signal for the Kammerphilharmonie Lübeck."