In a world marked by war, the rise of right-wing populist movements, growing social inequality, human rights violations and man-made climate change, we see a profound lack of love as the real root of these crises. This may sound naive at first, but it is a theme that more and more artists and thinkers have rightly taken up in recent times.
The Wiener Festwochen, one of Europe’s leading festivals, chose the title “Republic of Love” this year. It called on people to stand up to the destructive forces in the world and to fight with love. Many feminist, queer and left-wing writers and thinkers stress the need to act with love. In recent years they have increasingly championed ideas such as “radical tenderness”, “radical love” and “revolutionary love”. Theatre director Milo Rau puts it this way: “When the famous line ‘Beauty will save the world’ is spoken in Dostoevsky’s novel "The Idiot", someone remarks: you only say that because you’re in love… That is wonderful, because everything we do should be done out of love for another person. The answer lies in making art with other people and for other people.”
"Lovers Tour" addresses both the freedom of the individual act of love and love as a political force in the world.
A few years ago, the No Borders Orchestra launched a unique concert series that creatively weaves music together with theatrical elements. The upcoming concert on the Lovers Tour will be part of this innovative series. It will be staged by Brett Bailey, a renowned South African theatre director with whom the No Borders Orchestra has already performed at major festivals around the world.
