MaerzMusik, the festival of contemporary music by the Berliner Festspiele, will take place in Berlin from 19th until 28th March. Under the dialectic motto "Utopia ", the ninth edition of MaerzMusik, with more than 30 performances, exemplary works, six new music theatre productions and 19 premieres, explores music as a realm of utopian thought and practice, of memory and hope, but also as a place for the reflection of loss and failure, resignation and decline, death and beyond. “Current times seem, to a large extent, defined by discouragement. Reaction dominates action, unquestioning pragmatism and crisis management overwhelm vision and perspective. At least in the West the fall of ideologies is being proclaimed. The mere mention of utopia and ideals is almost taboo. And yet, conversely, the loss of utopia feeds a desire for orientation and change. Art, in that it confronts us with ourselves, can be a laboratory of transgression, of new thought, of creation beyond the familiar. Art enables the experience of the sublime, the contemplation of the other, the not yet, the no longer, the inconceivable. In particular music, with its claim to autonomy and abstraction, has the potential to nurture the seed of utopia and allow it to grow,” says Matthias Osterwold, Artist Director of MaerzMusik. The Berliner Festspiele invite to embark upon an exciting journey – not entirely without risk – to the [Lost] Islands of Musical Utopia where music is to be observed as the force field of the new, the unheard, the unexplored and of transgression. Read more from Matthias Osterwold, Artist Director MaerzMusik, [http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell /festivals/02_maerzmusik/mm10/mm10_info.php]here and the full press release including programme details [http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/02_maerzmusik/mm10_presse/mm10_pressemeldungen/mm10_Pressedetail.php]here" target="_blank"> Islands of Musical Utopia where music is to be observed as the force field of the new, the unheard, the unexplored and of transgression. Read more from Matthias Osterwold, Artist Director MaerzMusik, [http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell /festivals/02_maerzmusik/mm10/mm10_info.php]here" target="_blank">", the ninth edition of MaerzMusik, with more than 30 performances, exemplary works, six new music theatre productions and 19 premieres, explores music as a realm of utopian thought and practice, of memory and hope, but also as a place for the reflection of loss and failure, resignation and decline, death and beyond. “Current times seem, to a large extent, defined by discouragement. Reaction dominates action, unquestioning pragmatism and crisis management overwhelm vision and perspective. At least in the West the fall of ideologies is being proclaimed. The mere mention of utopia and ideals is almost taboo. And yet, conversely, the loss of utopia feeds a desire for orientation and change. Art, in that it confronts us with ourselves, can be a laboratory of transgression, of new thought, of creation beyond the familiar. Art enables the experience of the sublime, the contemplation of the other, the not yet, the no longer, the inconceivable. In particular music, with its claim to autonomy and abstraction, has the potential to nurture the seed of utopia and allow it to grow,” says Matthias Osterwold, Artist Director of MaerzMusik. The Berliner Festspiele invite to embark upon an exciting journey – not entirely without risk – to the [Lost] Islands of Musical Utopia where music is to be observed as the force field of the new, the unheard, the unexplored and of transgression. Read more from Matthias Osterwold, Artist Director MaerzMusik, [http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell /festivals/02_maerzmusik/mm10/mm10_info.php]here and the full press release including programme details [http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/02_maerzmusik/mm10_presse/mm10_pressemeldungen/mm10_Pressedetail.php]here.