Bernd Lhotzky has set a selection of William Shakespeare's sonnets to music in a haunting way. Together with him and Quadro Nuevo, the actress Birgit Minichmayr brings the poems, which were published over 400 years ago, back to life. She makes Shakespeare's mysterious poetry accessible to us as a kaleidoscope of the most diverse, sometimes contradictory feelings. "The result: a celebration of poetry turned into music." (BR Klassik)
In some verses, the sonnets speak of unwavering, sincere love, reliable like a fixed star that shows the way to the sailor, then again of frost, pain and death. Tangible eroticism and platonic love, nightmare and fragile rays of hope, morbid self-love and raging jealousy alternate with each other. Sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming, Birgit Minichmayr conjures up extreme moods and effortlessly changes perspectives, roles and genders. She moves virtuosically in the field of tension between an aging lover, an androgynous youth and a mysterious dark lady. "How does she do it, Minichmayr? Without it seeming contrived? That's her art. And it's really addictive." (ORF – Spielräume)
Quadro Nuevo has traveled the Orient, Africa and South America in search of new sounds. The exploratory journey to Shakespeare's sonnets leads through the most remote corners of our inner self and is intended to try to fathom emotional depths and shallows. With great virtuosity and passionate improvisations, the musicians not only succeed in creating a vibrant connection between the verses of the sonnets and the compositions of Bernd Lhotzky, but at the same time open up a multifaceted stage landscape for Shakespeare's creations.

Link to audio sample