9 May 2025
Berlin, Germany

An update has been a long time coming. But circumstances have hardly been amenable- the European premiere of The Once and Future (2021) with Anandi Bhattacharya and the Berliner Philharmoniker musicians conducted by Stanley Dodds was a beautiful introduction of the work to a new continent- working with the DE SINGEL team was an absolute joy and likewise the chance to present Bruno Birmanis‘ out-of-this-world costume for the first time. After eighteen months since the last performances in Hong Kong, to hear this work again was a profound privilege, as it was to share it with the appreciative audience with Giorgio Biancorosso‘s new staging. So much art, work, and love has gone into this performance at every stage from everyone. It deserves not to be the last performance and surely won’t be; it is rather like a new beginning!

Now we are preparing for the German premiere of Russia : Today (2020) which takes place tomorrow evening in Berlin at the Kühlhaus as part of INTO THE OPEN festival. I will have much more to say about this one day in the future but not now. There have been many times when I have wanted to ‘call time’ on the work and wait to present it again when the world is not in such an ugly state. But then, I keep coming back to the courageous people who, anonymously, nevertheless shared their most intimate feelings and fears, set free to live in the hearts, ears, and minds of audiences around the world. Am I not responsible to them to have the courage, likewise, to present the work? Suffice to say, for now, that I am incredibly grateful to the festival organisers for persisting with the performance and defending its premise. It is not easy and seemingly gets harder every day.

Back to Hong Kong next week, I feel not a lightness but the weight of this career and the choices made to do things, always, against the odds. Somewhere out there, there is a comfortable life in music. But it is remote and, arguably, vacuous. Not to say that controversy and conflict are something I seek out; in fact, admittedly, there was a time when it seemed advantageous to position creation as confrontation but today, rather now, I see it more as an inevitability if one seeks to be more than just a member of the creative class. Ultimately, we owe it to the people to create art that changes the world, just a little bit.