The LAC’s Theatre Hall will play host to the closing event of the twenty-fourth season of 900presente: written in 2007 by German composer Heiner Goebbels Songs of wars I have seen is a powerful and direct “scenic concert”.

The word “Songs” refers to the light, relaxed and repetitive structure of the twenty-seven movements making up the work, movements that literally take the form of “songs”.
The lyrics of these songs, which are not sung but spoken by the women of the instrumental ensemble have been drawn from the book Wars I have seen by Gertrude Stein in which the American author gives an account of her life during the Second World War.
These are not cruel tales from the front lines but tiny slices of life: the drama of war lived day by day, in meetings, listening to the radio, reading Shakespeare’s plays in order to interpret contemporary reality while constantly waiting for an epilogue.
The dim light emanating from several lampshades transforms the theatre into a kind of giant living room in which Goebbels’ music envelopes the audience in a poly-stylistic tale that moves between jazz-like notes and baroque quotations, the sharp timbres of electronic music and the ancient sounds of the theorbo and the harpsichord.