Theodor W. Adorno Prize
On 11 September 2021, Adorno's birthday, the City of Frankfurt awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Prize to the writer and cultural theorist Klaus Theweleit. The ceremony took place in the Paulskirche, and a quartet of improvisers opened and closed it with two improvisations.
The music took Adorno's String Quartet (1921) as a point of departure. Each of us had worked with the piece in our own way; on stage we let it go and played without a plan. The jury's statement described Theweleit's writing as a proliferating narrative that aims at an act of liberation, and we took that word, liberation, seriously.
The Paulskirche is one of the most significant public buildings in Germany: in 1848 it housed the Frankfurt National Assembly, the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany.
- Date
- 11 September 2021
- Place
- Paulskirche, Frankfurt am Main
- Occasion
- Theodor W. Adorno Prize of the City of Frankfurt, awarded to Klaus Theweleit
- Hans Koch
- bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
- Luke Wilkins
- violin, voice
- Diego Kohn
- viola
- Adam Goodwin
- double bass
- Video
- Live stream by FRANKFURT&CULTURE
The two improvisations
Excerpts from the live stream of the full ceremony (82 minutes).
Stills
Stills from the live stream.
The ceremony
About the prize
The City of Frankfurt has awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Prize every three years since 1977, in memory of the philosopher and composer. It recognises outstanding work in philosophy, music, theatre and film, and is presented in the Paulskirche on 11 September, Adorno's birthday.
Among its laureates are Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Boulez, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Derrida, György Ligeti, Judith Butler and Alexander Kluge.
- Full ceremony on YouTubeFRANKFURT&CULTURE, 11 September 2021
- Theodor W. Adorno PrizeCity of Frankfurt am Main