Body and Sound
Chamäleon Berlin is expanding beyond its own stage and developing new concepts for contemporary circus – and orchestral music – in Brandenburg an der Havel.
Eight acrobats, 140 hands, 55 instruments, millions of muscle cells: This is how Darcy Grant, artistic director of Australian circus ensemble Gravity & Other Myths (GOM), imagines it when the new piece LOUDER is performed at the Brandenburg Theatre in four exclusive performances on 30 and 31 December 2025. Together with the traditional Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, Darcy Grant is currently working on a highly ambitious stage project: a world-class contemporary circus company merges with a top orchestra with more than 200 years of tradition. ‘LOUDER is not about turning up the volume,’ says Darcy Grant. ‘It’s about the essential things that penetrate every noise – no matter how quiet they may seem.’
Last May, Darcy Grant and the musicians of the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra met for the first time to get to know each other, rehearse and experiment. Since then, something unique has been developing that transcends the boundaries of both circus and classical music. This has been made possible by Projekt Haus in Brandenburg, which commissioned this circus work exclusively for the turn of the year at Chamäleon Berlin and is acting as co-producer. Chamäleon’s artistic director Anke Politz also sees the project as a starting point for an exciting new role that her theatre is currently growing into: that of a production partner that sometimes leaves its own stage and stages productions for other theatres. ‘As producers, we have long been engaged in creative exchange with other stages worldwide in order to pool resources and jointly develop new stage formats,’ says Politz. ‘With LOUDER, however, we are working with a German stage and across genres for the first time, literally breaking new ground in Brandenburg.’
‘Such a huge, traditional orchestra with a young company like GOM – at first it felt almost unreal,’ says GOM director Darcy Grant. Everyone involved is aware of the new creative horizons that this collaboration opens up. ‘Together, we can question, break down and reassemble things and rituals from both our worlds.’ What if a violist suddenly stood up and began humming the next bar instead of continuing to play? What if an acrobat began singing whenever he felt like it? ‘We are dealing with highly trained, extremely capable bodies/artists on both sides,’ says Darcy Grant. ‘And in this context, we are looking for the human, the real.’
The Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra enjoys a first-class reputation worldwide and has been making music history for more than 200 years. Founded in 1810, the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra is the oldest existing orchestra in Brandenburg, and a number of important conductors have accompanied this traditional orchestra over the past decades. Andreas Spering has been principal conductor since 2022, and the renowned Hungarian conductor György Mészáros will take up the baton for LOUDER.
The piece will have three acts: the first part will feature gentle reinterpretations of classical orchestral repertoire, with the artists as equal partners on stage. The core of the second act is a new suite by the American avant-garde composer Sxip Shirey; music and acrobatics fragment and rearrange themselves. ‘The suite not only comments on modern life, it lives it,’ says Darcy Grant. And it reminds us that art is not an escape, but a tool for living.
Finally, in the third act, the energy shifts once again. Quincy Grant takes over, a composer who is as familiar with dance and circus as he is with theatre and orchestra. ‘The further we progress in the piece, the further we move away from noise and overload,’ says Darcy Grant. Instead, the focus shifts to clarity, silence and attention. ‘It’s about the moments that really exist and permeate all the hustle and bustle around us,’ says Darcy Grant. That one sunset by the sea. Breakfast with the children the other day. Moments of pure clarity.
GOM was founded in Adelaide in 2009 and is now one of the most successful circus ensembles in the world. The group has performed in 46 countries to more than 1,000,000 people and is known for its determination to push the boundaries of what is physically possible. But also for the role that music plays in its performances. For example, GOM’s major project THE PULSE, created by Darcy Grant with composer Ekrem Eli Phoenix, who also collaborated on the genesis of LOUDER, caused quite a stir. In THE PULSE, a mass of 30 acrobats and a 30-member choir dominated the stage. ‘A work of breathtaking scale, an absolute masterpiece,’ was the verdict of British entertainment portal The List.
That will be the benchmark, at least for the artists themselves. For Chamäleon artistic director Anke Politz, however, there is more at stake – for her, LOUDER is the best example of how the Chamäleon can help break down genre boundaries and create something great through collaboration, even beyond its home base at Hackescher Markt. ‘For me, it’s an exciting and forward-looking project that breaks down the long-outdated separation between entertainment and culture and thinks in artistic rather than administrative terms,’ she says. ‘This is the only way we can do justice to social change and new viewing habits and live artistic innovation outside of any competitive scenarios for funding.’
Chamäleon Berlin is unique in Germany as a production house for contemporary circus and sees itself as an innovative creative space and partner for international co-productions and networks. In 2023, it was awarded the Federal Theatre Prize in the private theatre category for its work.
LOUDER
Created by Gravity & Other Myths in collaboration with the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra
Director: Darcy Grant
Composers: Sxip Shirey, Quincy Grant
Conductor: György Mèszáros
A collaboration between the Brandenburg Theatre, Gravity & Other Myths and Chamäleon Berlin
Performances: 30th + 31st December 2025, at 4 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.
Location: Brandenburg Theater, Brandenburg an der Havel
https://chamaeleonberlin.com/en/
https://www.brandenburgertheater.de/eventdetails?event=5105913
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