Bitef

these innstruments in free jazz and experimental music. Next, he lived for two years in Paris where, among other things, he studied at Lecoq's drama school, and continued to study music. In the mid-seventies he began to work with Horst Zanki. During the following decade, almost all the important German theatres commissioned him to compose music for their productions. It was also in Zurich that Christoph Marthaler developed his first music and theatre projects. In 1980. he participated, with "Indeed", in a project for actors and musicans, at the first Züricher Theaterspektakel. In 1985. he performed at Züricher Minimal-Festival "Vexation", by Eric Satie, (which lasted 24 hours) at the Belvue-Apotheke. In 1988. Christoph Marthaler moved to Basel where he began to work regularly at the Theater Basel. On the 50th anniversary of the Pogrom he staged, at the Basel railway station Badischer Bahnhof, a mise en scène entitled "Ankuft A Bahnhof Basel" (Arrival at the Badischer Bahnhof). In 1989, when a referendum was held on the disbanding of the Swiss army, he staged at the Theater Basel the work entitled "Wenn das Alpenhorn sich rötet, tötet...ein Abend über Soldaten, Serviertöchter und ihre Lieder". In 1990, to celebrate the 7th Centenary of the Swiss Confederation, Marthaler staged the legendary work "Stägeli uf, Stägeli ab, juhee!" in the Schweizerischen Buffet of the Badscher Bahnhof in Basel, with his musicians and actors from the Theater Basel company. In the 1991 he realized at the Commedia of the Theater Basel The Via Lourcine Case, by Eugenè Labiche, and in 1992, he staged in the small hall of the Theater Basel the German première of the short lyric Faust by Fernando Pessoa. In January 1993 he staged at the Volksbühne theatre in Rosa Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin, a "patriotic vigil" entitled Murx den Europäer! Murx ihn! Murx ihn!Murx ihn! Murx

ihn ab! (Kill, kill, kill, death to Europe!). Christoph Marthaler was invited to participate with this production to Berlin Theatre meetings of 1993. He is recently working at the Deutshes Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and at Volksbühne am Rosa Luxem burg- Platz, and at the Frankfurt Opera. At the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg he realized, berween 1993-94, Goethes Faust Wurzel aus I+2 (Goethe's Faust, square root of I+2) which he was invited to take to the Berlin meetings of 1994 and to the Sucht/Lust music and theatre project; and in 199495 Hochzeit (The Marriage) by Canetti. At the Volksbühne in Berlin he staged the works Sturm nach Shakespeare (Tempest according to Shakespeare), Der Eindringling - Ein Jubiläumskonzert in 2. Aufzügen Nach Karl Valentin and Maurice Maeterlink) and Die Strasse der Besten (The Way of the Best) In Frankfurt, Christoph Marthaler directed Pelleas et Mèlisande by Debussy and Luisa Miller. The following summer he staged for the Salzburg Festival the opera Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg and Quartet for the End of Time By Olivier Messiaen. The opera Stunde Null oder Die Kunst des Servierens - ein Gedenktraining für Führungskräfte (Year Zero or the art of serving memory exercise for leaders) was performed in October 1995 at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. During 1996 Marthaler was invited to present this and other productions at the Berlin Theatre meetings and at the Vienna Festival; and in Paris, Montreal and London in 1997. In the 1996, he staged, at the Badischen Bahnhof in Basel, Lina Böglis Reise, produced by Volksbühne in Berlin and directed Kasimir and Karoline by Ödön Von Horvath at the Hamburg Theatre 1997. In November 1997 he created an opera project - The Unanswered Question - for the Basel Opera House, and in spring of 1998 in co-production with Wiener Festwochen festival he directed Offenbach's operetta "Parisien Leben" which