Ensemble Phœnix Basel

We all know it: suddenly a warm wind comes up and dries all the clouds from the sky. The mountains move closer together, everything seems closer, clearer, more beautiful, brighter and the sun shines in its massiveness: postcard magic! The “Föhn” wind has its origin on the northern slopes of our mountains. It is loved and feared, longed for and cursed. It can be felt as far as the border runs in the north of our country, and the Swiss themselves even complain that it afflicts them, tormenting them with headaches, bone aches and pains of the soul. The Föhn belongs to the alpine world and to the alpine countries like the mountains themselves. It is deeply rooted in everyday life and a piece of distinctive identity, bringing sweet magic and devastating devastation. The “Föhn” is an archaic, cyclical weather and drama of the Swiss cultural landscape that has always helped shape its uniqueness. Surprisingly, this theme is rarely found in the world of music and theater, nor as a radio play or in literature, apart from the poignant scene in Schiller’s “William Tell” in the storm on Lake Uri…

Christian Zehnder

Musician and director Christian Zehnder wants to remedy this situation: his interdisciplinary music theater project “Föhn” explores, laments and celebrates this phenomenon that is so quintessentially Swiss. Swiss author Urs Widmer has written especially for this project, the myth of the “Föhn” in the Swiss Alps, which is still unwritten in the alpine cultural landscape.

The “Föhn” woman: Susanne Elmark – coloratura soprano
The narrator: Hansrudolf Twerenbold – speaker
The farmer’s wife: Carina Braunschmidt – actress
The farmer: Martin Hug – actor
The mountain: Christian Zehnder – Submonk singing technique
The weather caller: Christian Zehnder
Noisemaker: Fabian Degen

Mens choir (Einstudierung: Fritz Näf):

Akira Tachikawa: counter tenor
Walter Meier, Daniel Issa, Christian Reichen: tenor
Erwin Schnider, Jean Bernard Arbeit, Othmar Sturm: baritone
Sebastian Mattmüller, Florian Engelhardt: bass

Text: Urs Widmer (1938–2014)
Music: Fortunat Frölich (*1954)
Concept, direction, room concept: Christian Zehnder (*1961)
Co-composition: Christian Zehnder
Choreography: Theresa Rotemberg
Costumes: Karen Feelizitas Petermann
Sound: Amadis Brugnoni
Lighting: Makus Küry