The Koln Concert

Overview

What if iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell opened for Keith Jarrett playing The Köln Concert—one of most famous solo jazz albums of all time?

Dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell stages this unlikely meeting of musical geniuses in one of the most emotional works of his career.

Harrell is known for his ability to deconstruct and reimagine dance forms ranging from voguing and runway to postmodern dance and Butoh, creating a singular style infused with humor and poignancy. Returning to FringeArts, Harrell performs alongside six members of his company, the Zürich Dance Ensemble. With precise movements and deep feelings, the dancers find resonances between Michell’s lyrical tracks and Jarrett’s gospel- fused improvisations. At turns statuesque
and playful, the international cast delivers a moving exploration of human vulnerability.

“[Harrell’s] unique combination of Black queer movement and high modernist dance offers hope that some artists will not just make it through this moment of crisis, but come out stronger.” —Frieze

GET INTO THE SHOW
Read The Imminent Potentiality of Living Black Art, an essay about POWER, The Köln Concert, and We Have Gone As Far As We Can Together by jaamil olawale kosoko.

SUPPORT
Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation.

Festival Executive Producer
Anonymous
Festival Producer
Karol M. Wasylyshyn, Psy.D.
Festival Co-Producer
Nancy Lanham

Photo: Reto Schmid

About the Artist

Trajal Harrell is one of the most important contemporary choreographers and in-house director at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. For more than 20 years, Harrell has been creating pieces for international dance- and playhouses as well as museums and art houses on various continents. However, although Trajal Harrell has been working with the same dancers for many years and also maintains long-term partnerships in global art institutions, there has not yet been a single institution until now that has been directly connected to his work and thus, neither has there been a company.

In the meantime, all this has changed. Trajal Harrell has been directing a dance company at the Zürich since 2019: The Zürich Dance Ensemble. After Meg Stuart and her company Damaged Goods had already made a brief but very impressive attempt to create a place for dance at the Zürich under the directorship of Christoph Marthaler in the early 2000s, the Schauspielhaus now has a dance company again. For the Zürich Dance Ensemble, Harrell brought New Kyd, Frances Chiaverini, Seyda Harjo Grahn, Perle Palombe, Songhay Toldon and Ondrej Vidlar to Zurich, where they have been full-time ensemble members since 2019.

The Zürich Dance Ensemble regularly tours internationally; since autumn 2021 it has been invited to Rome, Brussels and Leipzig, with further stops in Paris, New York, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Venice and many more.

Credits