Gedeelde grond (‘Shared ground’) 17: listen to a new episode with Sergio Roberto Gratteri (DAS HAUS)
Gedeelde grond (‘Shared ground’) is a series of conversations with art professionals from Flanders. What are their dreams? What are their concerns? We asked Sergio Roberto Gratteri, founder and artistic director of DAS HAUS – a nomadic space for the production and presentation of innovative classical music.
Summary
For the past four years, DAS HAUS has been presenting and producing innovative classical music. The organisation often focuses on projects with a multidisciplinary or social character, performed in a radically cosy, intimate setting. That cosiness is important to founder and artistic director Sergio Roberto Gratteri, and contributes to a safe space for both the artists and the audience. “A place where musicians feel they can be themselves and show what they want to show, in their own way.” The audience is “not a grey mass, but individuals with their own fears, judgements and needs. Specifically within the classical context, it is necessary for us to make our audience feel that they can feel safe and open up, and we work very consciously on that.”
How do you create such a safe space? “Cosiness is one aspect of it,” explains Sergio Roberto. “I feel more at ease in a homely atmosphere than in a temple or a church. But you also have to think about the accessibility of the programme.” DAS HAUS also considers inclusive language use. “How do you address your audience? In your communication, but also literally on site. My audience is relatively young, and half of them love classical music, while the other half are less interested but curious. So you can’t just assume that everyone knows who Mozart is.”
“Our language sometimes implies that you should know something. It can be embarrassing if you don’t know, and you may feel uncomfortable as an audience member and decide not to return. This deprives people of the opportunity to get to know someone who has composed beautiful music. So it’s a combination of these things; that’s the concept.”
“When I make a programme, I think about the audience I just mentioned, plus my mother. She is someone who loves music, classical music, but as soon as it gets a little too avant-garde, she loses interest and doesn’t like it. I want my mother to have at least three moments during our concerts when she says, ‘Ah, that touched me. I found that interesting or beautiful.’ But I also want her to find the other moments less interesting. Those things work better for the other people in the audience.”
I hope we can experience more moments like De Stomme van Portici, proving that an opera is capable of sparking a revolution.
DAS HAUS also creates safe spaces next to the stage. For example, the Sounds for the Soul project connects people who are struggling with something on a one-to-one basis with top musicians. “That started because of COVID-19, or at least between the different waves. On the one hand, we had so many musicians who suddenly found themselves out of work, and the fact that we were no longer allowed to do things in groups. On the other hand, there were people who were struggling. The project is very simple: it’s for anyone going through a difficult time in their life. That could be loneliness, burnout, losing someone, or having your heart broken: everyone can apply. We send a professional musician to your home to listen to your story. Inspired by that, they bring a piece of music that resonates with your emotional world.”
“We reach out to people and social groups that we don’t usually connect with: hospitals, institutions, refugees, single mothers, you name it. Wherever we really need to be active. And we train the musicians in how to deal with such situations. We have trainers in empathic listening and connecting communication to really make it a high-quality project. You can do a lot wrong if you don’t approach it properly.”
As is tradition, we conclude the conversation with a look to the future. How does Sergio Roberto view the classical music scene today? What is his dream, and what is his nightmare? “I believe that we, as a sector, must show solidarity. We are small and need to support each other, including who we are. Part of the sector does that, while another part mainly wants to show that it is doing well. I also notice that there is still very little vulnerability in the sector. We are afraid of losing the purity of our profession, of becoming (too) mainstream. We are all finding our way, but in doing so we need to make room for vulnerability.”
“That exercise in solidarity is also difficult, because we are all fishing from the same pot. That pot only holds a certain amount, so there is competitiveness involved. How do you deal with that? I think we just have to find our own voice. Not try to be better, but different. That is why my dream is that we realise once again, both socially and politically, the power of music – both for human life and for society. I hope we can experience more moments like De Stomme van Portici, where an opera is capable of sparking a revolution.”
