Asteris Koutoulas

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Asteris Koutoulas , also in the transcription of Kutulas ( Greek Αστέρης Κούτουλας ; * April 5, 1960 in Oradea ) is a Greek event and music producer , publicist , translator , filmmaker and author living in Germany .

Life

Koutoulas was born in Romania in 1960 as the son of Greek emigrants who moved to the GDR in 1968 . He attended the Kreuzschule in Dresden (1976–79) and studied German and history of philosophy at the University of Leipzig from 1979 to 1984 .

He has translated (as Asteris Kutulas) and mostly in collaboration with Ina Kutulas since 1981 numerous works by important Greek authors into German, for example poetry , essays and prose by Odysseas Elytis , Nikos Engonopoulos , Dionissis Karatzas , Konstantin Kavafis , Jannis Ritsos and Giorgos Seferis as well as the autobiography and various writings on music by Mikis Theodorakis . For most of the more than 40 independent book editions, he was mostly also the editor and afterword author . In addition, Koutoulas published a number of his own texts, interviews and translations of works by other authors in various German and Greek literary magazines and newspapers. Koutoulas had a deep friendship with Jannis Ritsos until his death in 1990.

From 1987 to 1989 Koutoulas published the series Bizarre Cities in the GDR , in which authors, painters and musicians took part, and from 1990 to 1991 the magazine Sondeur . In these publications he worked with a large number of artists and published their texts and visual artistic works, such as those by Peter Böthig , Volker Braun , Heinz Czechowski , Adolf Endler , Jan Faktor , Claudia Gehrke , Annett Gröschner , Durs Grünbein , Matthias Baader Holst , Horst Hussel , Johannes Jansen , Frank Lanzendörfer , Steffen Mensching , Bert Papenfuß-Gorek , AR Penck , Kathrin Schmidt , Peter Wawerzinek , Trak Wendisch and others. Koutoulas lived between 1992 and 1996 alternately in Athens and Eggersdorf (near Berlin) and has lived since 1997 in Prenzlauer Berg (Berlin).

Since 1980 he has been working with Theodorakis, for whom he has produced over thirty CDs and organized around 100 concerts worldwide (including in Canada, Chile, Russia, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Australia and in almost all European countries). From 1990 to 2014 he worked on the official Theodorakis homepage (from Guy Wagner ), for which he wrote a large number of articles. In 1998, Koutoulas published the Theodorakis catalog raisonné in Greece, which is considered the standard work of Theodorakis research.

He has been working as a music and event producer since the early 1990s. As managing director of his company Asti Music, he not only organized numerous productions by Greek artists ( Demis Roussos , Maria Farantouri , Dimitra Galani , Elli Paspala , Alkistis Protopsalti , George Dalaras etc.) in Europe, but also arranged or accompanied concerts by international stars such as Mercedes Sosa , Zülfü Livaneli , Sting , Thomas Anders , Milva , Kelly Family etc.

Between 1999 and 2010, Koutoulas worked worldwide as the manager and producer of the director and light architect Gert Hof and during this time he produced over 40 mega events around the world, including the Millennium Events 2000 at the Victory Column in Berlin and on the Acropolis in Athens as well as the Millennium Events “1000 Years of Hungary” in Budapest and for the Chinese government in Beijing , furthermore the “Welcome Europe Event” in Malta in 2004 for the European Union , the “City Day” 2003 for the city of Moscow on Red Square , 2003 for Donald Trump the "Lights of Freedom Event" in Atlantic City , 2005 the "Light from the Arab World" event for the Sultan of Oman , 2009 the opening of the European Capital of Culture in Vilnius, 2010 the closing event of the Israel Festival in Jerusalem etc. Gert Hof directed and was the overall artistic director of all of these events. As a producer, Koutoulas also worked with the respective composers of the music for these events, such as B. with Mike Oldfield , Roger Waters , the Scorpions , Klaus Schulze , Perikles Koukos , Ruslana , Westbam and others as well as with the musicians involved in the events such as Gabi Delgado-López , Buena Vista Social Club and others. From 2011 to 2014 he was executive producer and from 2013 to 2019 dramaturge of the Apassionata show and worked with the author, director and composer Holger Ehlers. Working with the Apassionata show resulted in several texts, trailers and interview films between 2012 and 2019, as well as the conceptual art project "Apassionata Video Blinks" (21 film clips), which was published on the artist's website.

In April 2015, Koutoulas initiated the founding of the German-Greek Cultural Association and the Greek film festival "Hellas Filmbox Berlin", of which he became the first festival director. From 2016 to 2019 he was the creative director of the film festival.

Koutoulas has also worked as an author, producer and director on various music and documentary film productions and as a dramaturge in theater and show productions since the early 1980s . In April 2014 he finished work on the hybrid film Recycling Medea , the first - unfinished - version of which was released in Greek cinemas in 2013. In 2014 he started production on his film project " Dance Fight Love Die - Unterwegs mit Mikis", which had three successful previews (First Cut) in Athens, Berlin and Munich in 2015, and which premiered on October 25, 2017 at the Hof International Film Festival celebrated and had its theatrical release in Germany on May 10, 2018. On July 27, 2018, the ballet "Electra" (music: Mikis Theodorakis, choreography: Renato Zanella) had its world premiere as part of the Festival of the Aegean , for which Koutoulas wrote the script and which he co-directed.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, Koutoulas has published articles, interviews and translations in various German and Greek newspapers and magazines, such as B. Süddeutsche Zeitung , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Frankfurter Rundschau , Sächsische Zeitung , Leipziger Volkszeitung , Stuttgarter Zeitung etc. He can be found with journalistic articles in the left-wing daily Junge Welt and occasionally in the taz .

He has been married to the author Ina Kutulas since 1985 and has one son.

Re-writing, translations, journalism

  • Mikis Theodorakis: Anatomy of Music , translated and commented by Asteris Kutulas, editions phi, Echternach 1985 ISBN 3-88865-031-3
  • Mikis Theodorakis: My position in the music scene , edited and translated by Asteris Kutulas & Peter Zacher , Reclam, Leipzig 1986 ISBN 3-379-00034-5
  • Jannis Ritsos: stones, bones, roots . Essays and interviews. Edited and translated by Asteris Kutulas, Kiepenheuer Verlag, Leipzig and Weimar 1989 ISBN 3-378-00321-9
  • Jannis Ritsos: Monochords . Transferred from Asteris Kutulas. With drawings by Gottfried Bräunling, Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1989 ISBN 3-923728-40-9
  • Jannis Ritsos: The Sondeur . Transferred by Ina & Asteris Kutulas. With drawings by Trak Wendisch, KonkursbuchVerlag Claudia Gehrke, Tübingen 1989 ISBN 3-88769-311-6
  • Jannis Ritsos: semicircle . Erotica. Edited and transmitted by Asteris Kutulas. With drawings by Gottfried Bräunling, KonkursbuchVerlag Claudia Gehrke, Tübingen 1989 ISBN 3-88769-312-4
  • Giorgos Seferis: Everything full of gods , essays, edited, translated from Greek and provided with an afterword by Asteris Kutulas, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990
  • Odysseas Elytis: Diary of an Unseen April . German-Greek. With five collages by the author. Transferred from Asteris Kutulas, Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1991
  • Konstantin Kavafis: The lie is only an aged truth . Notes, prose and poems from the estate. Edited, translated from Greek and provided with an afterword by Asteris Kutulas, Hanser Verlag, Munich 1991
  • express complaint from internal immigration . Texts & graphics from the GDR, edited and with an afterword by Asteris Kutulas and Udo Tietz , editions phi, Echternach 1992
  • Odysseas Elytis: The smell of the midday meal . Edited and transmitted by Asteris Kutulas. With illustrations by Fränz Dasbourg , editions phi, Echternach 1993
  • Konstantin Kavafis: The four walls of my room . Discarded and Unpublished Poems. Edited and with an afterword by Asteris Kutulas, transferred by Ina & Asteris Kutulas, Hanser Verlag, Munich 1994
  • Giorgos Seferis: Six nights on the Acropolis , novel, edited and with an afterword by Asteris Kutulas, translated by Asteris and Ina Kutulas , Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995
  • Mikis Theodorakis: The Metamorphoses of Dionysus . Libretto & other texts, with nine collages and a text by Ina Kutulas, edited, translated and with an essay by Asteris Kutulas, Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1995
  • Mikis Theodorakis: The ways of the archangel , autobiography 1925-1949, edited and translated by Asteris Kutulas, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 1995 ISBN 3-458-16689-0
  • Jannis Ritsos: Deformations. An inner biography . Poems Texts Encounters 1930–1990. Selected and edited by Asteris Kutulas. Romiosini Verlag, Cologne 1996 ISBN 3-923728-68-9
  • Asteris Kutulas [in Greek]: The composer Mikis Theodorakis . Texts - catalog raisonné - reviews (1937–1996), Livanis Verlag, Athens 1998
  • Mikis Theodorakis: Until he tanzt again , autobiography 1949–1952, edited and translated by Asteris Kutulas, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 2001 ISBN 3-458-17091-X , review
  • Nikos Engonopoulos: Conversations with the driver are prohibited . Poems from Greek surrealism. Published by Asteris Kutulas, transferred by Asteris & Ina Kutulas , axel dielmann Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001
  • Jannis Ritsos: The Return of Iphigenia . Monologues. With stone drawings by the author. Translation and with an afterword by Asteris and Ina Kutulas, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt and Leipzig 2001 ISBN 978-3458192183
  • Jannis Ritsos: The Moonlight Sonata . Transferred by Asteris Kutulas and Steffen Mensching, axel dielmann Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001 ISBN 3-933974-21-6 , criticism
  • Konstantin Kavafis: Kavafis family . Published by Asteris Kutulas, transferred by Ina & Asteris Kutulas, axel dielmann Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001
  • Asteris Kutulas: Mikis Theodorakis. A life in pictures. Photo book with DVD & 2 CDs, Schott Music, Mainz 2010 ISBN 978-3-7957-0713-2
  • Dionisis Karatzas: Reserve Month Suicide. Greek poems about the sea and love. Selected and edited by Asteris Kutulas. From the Greek by Ina and Asteris Kutulas, drawings by Trak Wendisch. Edition Raute (edited by Holger Wendland ), Görlitz 2010, ISBN 978-3-933777-20-1 .
  • Georgios Neophytou : DNA - A play. Translated by Ina and Asteris Kutulas 2012 (World premiere: Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden & Satiriko Theatro Nicosia, June 21, 2012, Wartburg)
  • Even when there is no heaven ... In search of a lost (Greek) land. Greek literature (1901 to 2013) in new and first translations, compiled by Asteris and Ina Kutulas, who hear. Journal for Literature, Art and Criticism, Volume 58, Issue 249, Göttingen 2013 ISBN 978-3-8353-1235-7

Movie

  • Canto General . Der Große Gesang by Pablo Neruda and Mikis Theodorakis - a film by Joachim Tschirner , Rainer Schulz and Asteris Kutulas, director: Joachim Tschirner, camera: Rainer M. Schulz , specialist advice, interviews, re-poetry, translation: Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 1983 (produced for the DEFA documentary film studio, 40 min.)
  • Say: heaven. Even if there is none. Encounter with Jannis Ritsos - director: Joachim Tschirner, scenario: Joachim Tschirner & Asteris Kutulas, camera: Rainer Schulz, interviews, retouching, translation: Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 1984 (produced for DEFA-Dokfilmstudio, 60 min.)
  • Mikis Theodorakis. Zorbas-Ballett - A film by Asteris Kutulas, London 1989 (produced for Zorba-Production, 12 min.)
  • Sonne & Zeit - A film by Klaus Salge & Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 1999 (produced for ARTE, 52 min.)
  • The short life of Chris Gueffroy - a film by Klaus Salge, dramaturgical collaboration: Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 2010 (produced for RBB television, 42 min.)
  • Mikis Theodorakis. Composer - A film by Asteris Kutulas & Klaus Salge, Berlin 2010 (produced for ARTE, 53 min.)
  • Recycling Medea - A film by Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 2013/14 (75 min.)
  • Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis on the Road - A film by Asteris Kutulas, Berlin 2017 (87 min.)

CD productions (as producer or co-producer)

  • Mikis Theodorakis - Theodorakis sings Theodorakis (1991)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Macbeth / Theater Music (1993)
  • Mikis Theodorakis & Maria Farantouri - Birthday Concert (1995)
  • Mikis Theodorakis & Zülfü Livaneli - Together (1996)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - First Symphony & Adagio (1996)
  • Maria Farantouri - Poetica (1997)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Mikis (1998)
  • George Theodorakis - Nothing in Mind (1998)
  • Maria Farantouri - Asmata (1998)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Requiem (1999)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Symphonietta & Etat de siege (1999)
  • Theodorakis & Farantouri & Rainer Kirchmann - Sun & Time (2000)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Mauthausen Trilogy (2000)
  • Mikis Theodorakis & guests - Happy Birthday, Mikis! (2000)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Carnaval & Raven (2002)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Resistance (2005)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - First Songs (2005)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - The Metamorphosis des Dionysus / Opera (2006)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - Rhapsodies for Cello and Guitar (2006)
  • Maria Farantouri - Way home (2007)
  • Mikis Theodorakis - East of the Aegean (2008)
  • Mikis Theodorakis & Francesco Diaz - Timeless (2010)
  • Konstantin Wecker , Gerhard Schöne , Hans-Eckardt Wenzel , Bejarano & Microphone Mafia , jayrope & Lippstueck , Petros Pandis u. a. - Viva Mikis 85th Theodorakis Tribute (2010)
  • Mikis Theodorakis / Sebastian Schwab (editor) / Johanna Krumin (vocals) - Echowand (2015)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Apassionata diary | Asteris Kutula's blog. Retrieved on August 4, 2019 (German).
  2. Video Blinks - A Conceptual Art Project | Asteris Kutula's blog. Retrieved on August 4, 2019 (German).
  3. Hellas Filmbox Berlin Team 2016
  4. Hellas Filmbox Berlin Team 2019
  5. 51st Hof Film Festival 2017
  6. The soundtrack of a life, article in the Frankenpost
  7. Program of the Festival of the Aegean 2018
  8. ↑ The film's official blog