Around 300 invited guests from culture, politics and the media came to the Komische Oper Berlin at the end of October to celebrate the VILLA AURORA & THOMAS MANN HOUSE NIGHT.

After welcoming remarks by the chairman of the association, Dr. Markus Klimmer, Dr. Steven Lavine, Founding Director of the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles and former President of CalArts, spoke on the future role of the house in transatlantic relations.

Afterwards we had a premiere: FACE FAUST was the first collaboration between the composer and musician Paul Frick and the poet Albert Ostermaier. The sound-text performance, a tribute to Thomas Mann and Los Angeles, was improvised and drew from literary sources from FAUST to the REDEN AN DAS DEUTSCHE VOLK by Thomas Mann. Paul Frick and Albert Ostermaier will stay at the Villa Aurora in 2018. Paul Frick holds the Villa Aurora scholarship of the Musicboard Berlin.