»THERE IS PRACTICALLY ALWAYS A ›WINTERREISE‹ GOING ON SOMEWHERE«

For its upcoming edition, the festival cresc … Biennial for Current Music Frankfurt Rhine Main has chosen the motto ›Schwärmen‹ (›Swarming to Swooning‹), including a song project that is anything but run-of-the-mill. Entitled ›Theres‹, it is named for two women named Therese who were close to the composer Franz Schubert and the author of the poems he set in ›Winterreise‹, Wilhelm Müller. This marks the framework within which the project began. It was initiated and co-developed by the tenor Julian Prégardien, who is one of the soloists, alongside soprano Pia Davila. Together with Ensemble Modern, they will perform a song cycle which opens up current perspectives on the theme of »Winterreise«. In this interview with Ellen Freyberg, Julian Prégardien and Ensemble Modern’s artistic manager and managing director, Christian Fausch, offer various insights into the development of the project, explaining why music-making in the public space can be a real alternative to a classical concert hall.

Ellen Freyberg: Taking up the motto ›Schwärmen‹, you will swarm out into the city on February 8, 2026, taking the audience along. In doing so, you will undertake a literal »Winterreise«, a winter journey, performing new works along the way. How did this idea come about?

Christian Fausch: The project has a backstory that began in 2021. At the time, Julian Prégardien and Ensemble Modern performed Hans Zender’s ›Winterreise‹, but only as a streamed version, due to the coronavirus. Ever since, we have wanted to do that again, but with an audience. And when we began talking about it, Julian said he would be equally enthusiastic about doing something new with us. This led to an intense exchange, and things began to develop quickly. Even if Schubert and Müller are the godfathers here, so to speak, it was clear from the beginning that this project was not about paying homage to them. We want to create something that opens up spaces for another take on the theme of the »Winterreise«. Especially when it’s about Schubert’s ›Winterreise‹, many people have their very own experiences and connotations. The very broad form we have found – encompassing very different textual and compositional perspectives – is what makes this project so intriguing, in my view, because it delivers impulses and opens spaces that can be filled with one’s own experiences.

EF: We will return to this in a moment, but may I ask you first, Julian: what interests you about the material of »Winterreise« – the psychological introspection which Schubert and Müller pursue here, or the unflinching gaze they cast upon a world that is basically dysfunctional?

Julian Prégardien: The first time I truly encountered ›Winterreise‹ was during my studies in Freiburg. The opera school put on a staged project in which ›Winterreise‹ was interwoven with Büchner’s ›Lenz‹. In that case, ›Winterreise‹ was a foil through which another story was viewed, that of a great loss; in that case, the loss of a beloved friend. Even then, the incredible richness, the many facets of the work fascinated me. Today, however, what interests me far more is the phenomenon of the »Winterreise«: there is practically always a »Winterreise« going on somewhere. Someone we know is always on such a »Winterreise«, without our noticing. Schubert’s song cycle is basically only one manifestation of this phenomenon. Albeit one that has profoundly influenced our listening habits to this day. To enable other, contrasting perspectives entails a great mental conflict.

EF: But one with great chances of working within the special constellation of this project …

JP: Yes – in the decision to leave the concert hall with its feelgood acoustics and to swarm out into the city, to bring composers of very different backgrounds and aesthetic ideas into a dialogue with the Ensemble Modern musicians; but also and especially in the combination with Zender’s ›Winterreise‹, which we will perform about six weeks later at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, this is one of the strongest possible constellations.

EF: There will be world premieres of a number of new works. Which criteria is your selection based on?

CF: There are six composers involved, all told. Five of them are writing individual songs, while Leon Liang, a young Australian composer, is writing five short miniatures setting texts by Stefan Weiller. In selecting the composers, we took very different parameters into account. One important criterion was that those commissioned should have an affinity for the voice and be ready to engage with the fact that in Julian Prégardien and Pia Davila, we have two vocalists who command a great breadth of expressive vocal abilities. Both come from the classical and romantic tradition, but are intensely involved in contemporary music as well.

JP: Another thing that was important to us was that the composers get away from Schubert’s original, finding their own questions before the backdrop of the »Winterreise« theme. To offer an example: for Malika Kishino, a Japanese composer living in Germany, I selected a scene from a Japanese novel by Haruki Murakami – translated into German – and I distilled a poem from it which she has translated into Japanese and then set to music. Thus, there is a triple process of translation going on here, starting with a very evocative scene in the novel in which the image of the head of an old person appears – as it does in Schubert’s work. Thus, in the song, the Japanese influence and that of the »Winterreise« are equally present.

EF: Considering your selection of texts, what is striking is the breadth of historical and contemporary voices.

JP: This polyphony is quite intentional. Sarah Nemtsov, for example, will set the poem ›Komm‹ by the Jewish poet Gertrud Kolmar, who was murdered in Auschwitz. Thierry Tidrow, on the other hand, will set poems by Hölderlin and Alain-Fournier. Bernard Foccroulle uses a poem by the young poet Felicitas Magdalena Pfaus. A poem by Luise Hensel, who was also part of the romantic circle of poets, will be explored in music by Helena Cánavas Parés. And finally, Leon Liang is writing the five miniatures already mentioned, using texts from Stefan Weiller’s ›Deutsche Winterreise‹, published in 2021.

EF: Which brings us back to this question: what can the audience look forward to when it embarks upon this »Winterreise« with you?

JP: We will set out, on foot or by public transport, to very different places in Frankfurt’s centre, and in each place, there will be a world premiere. Afterwards, the »walking party« will go to the Casals Forum in Kronberg, where the songs will be combined in one concert programme. Thus, we will include the Museum of Modern Electronic Music in our walking tour. That is a fantastic place where one can meet iconic DJ personalities and become a DJ oneself. Then we will visit the St. Katharinenkirche, which is known in Frankfurt for its free organ concerts …

CF: … but also for its meal programme for homeless people. This was important to us. Not because we want to ostentatiously celebrate our empathy, but in the sense that the texts, some of which are based on stories of exclusion and homelessness, are placed in a new context in this way.

JP: Then we will also make a stop at the Deutsches Romantik Museum, where the foyer is not only a space with a fantastic sound, but also forms a kind of halfway house between the world outside and inside. This makes it a perfect fit for our project. Another historically fascinating space is the Nebbiensches Gartenhaus, which is also on our route.

CF: These are all spaces where we have not made music before. This will be a special experience. In doing so, we want to create access for people who are not routine concertgoers, but are curious and willing to engage with unknown experiences.

EF: Julian, with your ›Liedstadt‹ project, you have gathered a lot of experience in bringing music to public spaces. Do you see common ground with this project?

JP: I do, but I must add that the idea of performing the works in different places was not mine, but came from the team of the cresc… festival. What I like about it is that such places obey different rules than a chamber music hall. To get out of one’s own comfort zone has a special power, but also entails vulnerability. You are no longer in your familiar surroundings. However, at such moments, everyone is on unfamiliar ground, and that leads to a special feeling of community.

EF: This promises to be an intense concert experience. How much time should the audience allow for this »Winterreise«?

CF: I can’t say yet exactly how the walk will unfold. Presumably we will start in the early afternoon and – with enough breaks in between – will arrive in Kronberg, where the song cycle will be premiered at 7.45 pm in its entirety. The cycle itself will take about 70 minutes.