Street and figure theater are offered, but also Cirque Nouveau, installations, concerts and community art. In the 125 performances, streets, squares and parks, the opera house and the Joanneum district and a tent in the Augarten will be used, it said on Wednesday at the program presentation in Graz.
Around two-thirds with free entry
For 25 years, “La Strada” has been bringing street art, puppet theatre, artists, performance artists and, increasingly, musical performances to the old town of Graz, to its outskirts and always to the regions of the country. In the 25th year of its existence, there are 24 productions at 27 venues, the majority of which take place outdoors, around two thirds with free admission.
More than a melody by Muthspiel
Nevertheless, the festival will open on July 29 at 7.30 p.m. in the Graz Opera. “We asked Christian Muthspiel for a melody for the anniversary year,” said artistic director Werner Schrempf. “It has become a bit more than a melody,” says the Styrian jazz musician, composer, conductor and trombonist Muthspiel. He composed the piece of music “La Melodia della Strada”, in which he was inspired by the artistic philosophy of Federico Fellini.
“It is an associative homage to the world of Fellini and Nino Rota, which arose from the atmosphere of the films,” said Muthspiel on Wednesday, looking back on nine months of intensive engagement with the Italian director’s films. He will conduct the premiere of the resulting composition himself and bring it to the stage twice with his Orjazztra Vienna.
Fixed and unusual venues
Following the second performance, on July 31, under the patronage of the main sponsor Steiermärkische Sparkasse, “A Festival of Art” will take place around the opera house with acrobatics, dance, music and hospitality from the local gastronomy, as Diana Brus, commercial director of the festival, reported.
Until August 6, Graz’s squares, parks, inner courtyards, a shopping center and fountains are firmly in the hands of national and international artists such as Leandre Clown (Spain), Dries Verhoeven (Netherlands), Circus Ronaldo from Italy, Barcode Circus Campany (Canada) or Follow the Rabbit from Graz. From July 30th, the latter will announce “Fear the Woman in the Dark” as their motto and invite you to their piece in a park with a pond near an electric power station in the Gösting district. The French group Adhok is luring people into a large new residential complex in the western part of the city with their play “Qui vive” (also from July 30).
Two productions especially for children
Two productions were added to the program especially for children: “A Fantastic Journey” by Theater Feuerblau and “Hans im Glück” by the German Menzel Schäfer production. The pieces are shown in the Murpark shopping center, in the Joanneum district, but also in Weiz, St. Stefan ob Stainz and Leibnitz.
Traditional dance
In the Kaiserfeldgasse, as part of “La Strada”, people are traditionally asked to dance in the evening. The “Open Dance” evenings in the street, which is closed to traffic on these evenings, start at 9 p.m. Table reservations are recommended. A total of seven formations can be experienced. The program was put together by Christian Bakanic and Eddie Luis, who himself will be heard on two evenings with the Jazzbandits and the Merciless XL.