Richter's Fairytale

RICHTER'S FAIRYTALE provides an insight into the life of Swjatoslaw Richter (1915-1997), one of the greatest Soviet pianists in the history of music. The life of this German-Russian piano virtuoso was characterized by an escape from the reality of the Stalinist regime into the boundless and unrestricted world of music. "Politics eludes my interest", Richter used to say. However, his fate was permeated by it: Richter's father was executed on false charges, his mother fled to Germany with the retreating German troops and Richter himself, who narrowly escaped arrest, played at Stalin's funeral. The play is a fantasy on the subject of the reciprocal relationship between the artist and power. It is based on documents from Richter's archive as well as interviews with the artist and his colleagues and close friends. The play tells the story of a musical genius who was forced to invent his own "free world" in order to stay as far away as possible from dictatorial rule, totalitarianism and stagnation. By combining live music, elements of dramatic and documentary theater, puppet theater and clowning, an extraordinary and fantastic story is brought to the stage... a fairytale of this unique personality.