DEDE KORKUT

2014

A complete work of body, sound and cinema that brings one of the most important stories in Turkish literary history to the stage

Docufictional music theater for orchestra, voice, movement and video installation by Marc Sinan with the Dresdner Sinfoniker.

Marc Sinan’s docufictional music theater DEDE KORKUT, which premiered in 2014, retells one of the most important stories in Turkish literary history: The “Book of Dede Korkut” is traditionally regarded as the “founding myth” of the Turkic peoples. Marc Sinan’s reinterpretation draws a connection to the recent global history of hate and exclusion. From the perspective of the monster, Sinan tells this heroic story as a multimedia reflection on the figure of the stranger in the present. Together with the Dresdner Sinfoniker, he is bringing this reinterpretation of what is considered a nationalistically disguised material to European stages for the first time.

Also as a radio play based on an episode from the Turkish legend cycle DEDE KORKUT for narrator, voice, double bass, flute, percussion, guitar, band and orchestra.

The story of “Tepegöz” refers motivically to the song about the Cyclops Polyphemus from the Odyssey: Tepegöz, the barbaric “parted eye”, is the product of a rape. He fulfills the curse of his violated mother and murders his foster parents, the Oghuz. His foster brother eventually turns on him. Marc Sinan takes up this conflict about guilt and revenge for a musical-archaeological audio piece that also reflects the myth through documentary material: Alongside traditional songs from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Istanbul intellectuals tell their version of the myth, which poses the general question of how society can come to terms with an indelible guilt and can be applied to the genocide of the Turks against the Armenians, for example.

Past Performances

February 08, 2014 February 15, 2014 November 13, 2014 Radio play published by SWR2 in 2015

Conveyor

Supported with funds from the CULTURE 2007-2013 program of the EU, the Capital Cultural Fund, the Federal Foreign Office, the Berlin Project Fund for Cultural Education, the City of Dresden, the Dresden Cultural Foundation of Dresdner Bank, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the Cultural Foundation of the German-Turkish Economy, the Goethe Institutes in Istanbul and Tashkent as well as through the support of the resumption by the Berlin State Chancellery for Cultural Affairs.

News & Press

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung described the play as an “immensely impressive theatrical composition” and, as one of many other media, the taz praised it as a “magnificent production”. The EU-funded international co-production has already toured Europe and Turkey with great success. Due to its great success with audiences and critics, the play was revived at the GORKI in 2015. On stage, Central Asian folk songs and contemporary compositions, live music and audiovisual recordings from Central Asia intertwine to create an exciting and impressive “musical world narrative” (Berliner Zeitung)

Cast

Marc Sinan Composition & Artistic Direction, Guitar/E-Guitar
Markus Rindt & Marc Sinan Production
Fabián Panisello Conductor
Jelena Kuljic voice
Jun Kawasaki double bass
Sascha Friedl flute/subcontrabass flute
Ulzhan Baibussynova Zhirau
Mehri Asadullayeva Kamancheh
Askar Soltangazin Dombra
Toir Kuziyev Sato
Dresden Symphony Orchestra
Aydin Teker Choreography
Hans-Peter Eckardt Camera
Albrecht Leu Technical direction and lighting design
Isabel Robson Video and stage Volker Greve, Silvio Naumann Sound
Holger Kuhla Dramaturgy and text
Cornelia Just Co-director
Mizgin Bilmen Assistant director
Cleo Niemeyer Costumes
Martina Taubenberger Project management
Josefine Rucker, Philipp Schoof Education project
Katja Nawa Orchestra management Dresdner Sinfoniker
A joint production of the Dresdner Sinfoniker, the Maxim Gorki Theater and HELLERAU- European Center for the Arts, Dresden

Dede Korkut

Past Performances

Conveyor

News & Press

Cast

DEVON HONFIELD

02 Mai 2025

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