Events

Trusting in the long-term impact of art, even if the market favours quick results - that is the message of SAGO, the Academy for Poetry and Music. It was founded in 1989 by Christof Stählin, for whom aesthetic positions were always more important than political ones. He created a collegial meeting place for all those who do not fit neatly into the classical, pop and jazz pigeonholes - analogous to odds and ends that ended up in the unused "sago compartment" of old kitchen buffets. Precision of observation and subtlety of musical expression - this is the focus of the school, which has already hosted celebrities such as Judith Holofernes, Eckart von Hirschhausen, Bodo Wartke and Sebstian Krämer. SAGO offers a unique opportunity to work intensively and creatively together for a week.

You can see this for yourself again on Thursday, 4 September at 7.30 pm.

Every year, the graduates are given the task of composing a song on a given theme. The results will be heard in the first part of the concert. In the second part of the concert, the freestyle follows: everyone can show what else they have to offer. The best-known Sago annual task song is probably Judith Holofernes' "Denkmal". The theme of the same name also inspired Bodo Wartke's "Ein Denkmal denkt".

Since Stählin's death in 2015, his long-time assistant Martin Betz and his colleague Matthias Binner have continued to run SAGO. Martin Betz is an author, musician and comedian living in Berlin. In addition to studying historical keyboard instruments, specialising in harpsichord, he has a master's degree in German and musicology. He has received awards including the Esslinger Bahnwärter and Stadtschreiber von Ottendorf. Matthias Binner studied German language and literature and history at the FU Berlin. Even during his studies, he worked professionally as a pianist for well-known theatre, cabaret and show productions. One of his compositions, the operetta "Der Geizhals" - loosely based on Molière - was staged at three German theatres. He has been performing on stage as a singer-songwriter for 18 years and has been a participant in the Sago seminars since 2012. His first solo CD was released in 2015.