These were the opening days of TangenteSt.Pölten!

The opening days of Tangente took place from April 30 to May 5. The dense program started on 30.4. with the question of justice and responsibility and "Justice", the second opera production by the award-winning Swiss director and artistic director of the Wiener Festwochen Milo Rau. The Austrian premiere with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria was sold out, and the second performance on May 1 was also packed.

On May 1 and 2, the focus was on the value of an intact environment and, above all, water as a resource: the art trail "The Way of the Water", curated by Joanna Warsza and Lorena Moreno Vera, was opened with walks along the route and in the presence of numerous artists. Admission is free for the entire duration of the festival.

Also on May 1 from 12 noon, Olivier Messiaen's 13-part cycle "Catalog of Birds" was performed in the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, in the Former Synagogue and in public spaces in an interpretation by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and actress Birgit Minichmayr. "Die Presse" was enthusiastic and wrote: "No praise is too high."

Kali Malone's concert on May 2 in St. Pölten Cathedral kicked off the "Organ Experimental" series and attracted a diverse audience. Great to see the cathedral so full!

In "Shared Landscapes", conventional notions of theater are undermined with relish. While the "Seven Plays between Forest and Meadow" were still a little wet on May 3 due to the rain, the production by Caroline Barneaud and Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) took place in the surroundings of St. Pölten on Saturday and Sunday in good weather. On May 10, 11 and 12 (starting at 1 pm) there is still the chance to lie on the forest floor and float above the treetops.

A hymn to dance as a place of encounter is Ayaka Nakama's "Freeway Dance", shown for the first time in Austria, which attracted a large audience to Freiraum St. Pölten on May 3 and 4. On May 4, the (free) Tangente street festival took place at the same time, spreading out into the public space. The "Alien Disko" pop-up concerts curated by The Notwist took place at the festival center, while the "Alien Parade" took musicians and audiences to the Festspielhaus, where punk and indie rock could be heard on two stages, followed by dancing at the "Alien Disko Soundclash" at Cinema Paradiso from 11 pm.  

On May 5, the performative intervention "One Hour on the Cathedral Square" around Christian Philipp Müller's sculpture "A Bath for Florian" gave visitors a chance to pause for a moment.  A worthy conclusion to the opening days!