Volksbühne Berlin Presents The Can Project

The Volksbühne will present a special concert dedicated to the work of Irmin Schmidt and the band CAN on 16 December 2018, as part of The CAN Project. In the first part of the evening, Irmin Schmidt will conduct the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, presenting some of his own compositions for orchestra for the first time in Germany: Irmin Schmidt Filmmusiken I/II/III (orchestral arrangement Georg Schwellenbach) and Can Dialog, a composition for a large orchestra by Irmin Schmidt and Gregor Schwellenbach. The second half features a CAN tribute concert with AUTOMAT, the band from Jochen Arbeit (Einstürzende Neubauten), and guests like Peaches, Gemma Ray, Tikiman, Bettina Köster, Max Loderbauer and Andrew Zammit.

Irmin Schmidt completed a comprehensive classical education as a pianist, conductor and composer, studying with György Ligeti at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Cologne University of Music. At the end of the 60s, Schmidt decided to combine new classical music with rock and jazz, founding CAN together with Holger Czukay. They separated themselves completely from dominant blues and rock traditions, integrating electronic sounds, noises and loops into their music. Their work has influenced generations of musicians up to the present day in the genres of rock, new wave, punk, electronica and hip-hop. After CAN, Irmin Schmidt continued his solo career and composed numerous solo albums (including Musk at Dusk, Impossible Holidays), film soundtracks (such as Rote Erde, Bloch, Palermo Shooting) and an opera, Gormenghast. At the Barbican Centre in 2017, Irmin Schmidt conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in both the world premiere of Can Dialog (Irmin Schmidt & Georg Schwellenbach), and his ballet suite La Fermosa. A more extensive biography of Schmidt can be found here.

The event on 16 December is presented in cooperation with RBB Radio Eins and the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, and is supported by the Musicboard Berlin. The CAN Project (Berlin) is produced by Heiner Mühlenbrock.

More information can be found at www.volksbuehne.berlin. Tickets (30/26€) are available at the Volksbühne box office, by telephone on +49 (0) 30 2406 5777 and online. Please contact wiebke.jahns@volksbuehne-berlin.de or by telephone on +49 (0)30 24065 622 with press ticket requests and for further information. Additional photographs and texts can be found in the press section of our website.

The CAN Project (Berlin) continues with CAN Soundtracks from 17-19 December in Kino BABYLON. The event centres on five films (1970-1971) whose music was published on CAN's album Soundtracks. Followed by a conversations with various guests such as Irmin Schmidt and film director Dominik Graf. More information can be found at www.babylonberlin.eu