With the seventh edition of its discourse and concert performance series Sustainable Listening, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden continues its artistic dialogue on climate, the environment, and social responsibility. Entitled Urban Spaces, Sustainable Listening #7 focuses on urban space as an ecological, social, and acoustic field of experience—and asks how cities can sound, breathe, and be designed.
As part of Sustainable Listening, a walk-in climate capsule becomes a place for exchange with climate experts and visionaries who provide impetus on various sustainability topics. The guest speaker for this program is Liang Wu, co-founder and Chief Information Officer of Green City Solutions, a multi-award-winning green tech company based near Berlin. Founded on the belief that technological and ecological innovation must go hand in hand, Green City Solutions is committed to improving urban air quality. With the “CityTree”, which will be integrated as a living element into the spatial design of rehearsal stage 1 in the Staatsoper’s administration building, the company is developing vertical moss modules that act as living air filters. As a symbol of sustainable urban development, the “CityTree” will become an active part of an immersive sound installation in which music, space, and nature come into direct contact with each other.
Musically, Sustainable Listening #7 Urban Spaces combines works by Elena Kats-Chernin, Toshio Hosokawa, Sofia Gubaidulina, Abram Chasins, Fazil Say, and Paul Lincke with live electronics. The electronic artists Gebrüder Teichmann, whose work lies at the intersection of experimental music, club culture, and performative formats, are responsible for this. Together with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, they create a stylistically diverse soundscape in which urban spaces reverberate musically.
This edition places a special focus on sustainable production processes: the interior design and lighting are developed and implemented by trainees at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Sustainability is thus not only addressed thematically, but also put into practice – as part of the artistic training and institutional self-image of the opera house.
Sustainable Listening #7 Urban Spaces is an invitation to listen, reflect, and exchange ideas. The aim is to combine artistic practice with current urban issues and stimulate an open dialogue about the future of our cities.
