OCT.opus 25

In order to musically dive into the depths of Johann Strauss, to play his waltzes “with the motion of the waves of the sea”, God's Entertainment will have a larger-than-life, inflatable spatial sculpture, whose shape is reminiscent of an octopus, floating in the pond on Karlsplatz. In this artistic manifestation of the octopus, an exciting symbiosis of Strauss and Donna Haraway, the three-quarter classic will shine in a completely new light. With lively, tentacular interpretations full of charm, humor and temperament, the audience will experience new feelings and insights into the music of Johann Strauss.

15 & 16 August 2025, 7.30 pm:

Roses from the south
Lukas König | God's Entertainment | Black Page Orchestra An old Persian proverb says: ‘The book is comparable to the rose, because it opens the reader's heart when it is looked at petal by petal.’ In this sense: rose by rose, leaf by leaf, note by note, all in three-four time, skilfully brought together to form a new bouquet.

Rejoice in art or the secret of melodic recycling
Maja Osojnik | God's Entertainment | Black Page Orchestra
Maja Osojnik devotes herself to the method of recycling already used by Strauss. The composer will compose a recycled waltz from eight waltz melodies by cutting away, halving and expanding them.

Dance of the sirens
Eva Reiter | God's Entertainment | Black Page Orchestra
A waltz entitled Sirens was first performed in Vienna in 1855. The musical form of this work gives no indication as to whether Johann Strauss was inspired by the technical warning signal or the figure of the sirens from Greek mythology. A translation of this theme into our present-day environment includes both and also embodies the perspective of an octopus. Everything turns round and inside him when the sirens begin to sound.

Rejoice in life
Matthias Kranebitter | Black Page Orchestra
In experiments, octopuses seem to have a particular preference for a frequency of 600 hertz, which corresponds to the musical d‘’. The waltz Freuet euch des Lebens, op. 340 by Johann Strauss, which was composed for the opening ball of the Musikverein
Vienna in 1870 for its new building on Karlsplatz.

Will-o'-the-wisp
Mirela Ivičević | Black Page Orchestra
In the search for tonal non-conformity in Irrlicht, Strauss's waltz Irrlichter is gradually taken apart. And depending on the perspective, a cosmos of cross-connections and associations is revealed. With this in mind: all will-o'-the-wisps of all waltzes, unite!

OCTOPUS' DREAM |
JS for 8 conductors Super Nase & Co
The only thing that can be revealed in advance is that the planned performances will last no longer than the active sleep of an octopus. Super Nase & Co can't understand why people are afraid of new ideas. They are afraid of the old ones.

15 - 31 August 2025
Waltzing in the frenzy of the ocean
Sebastian Meyer | God's Entertainment
The initial idea for the planned sound installation is that the ocean and the waltz can be considered related worlds. What they have in common are the flowing movements, as something extraordinarily dynamic and at the same time static, which can be found in both the maritime and the waltz.
sometimes very light, then again lively and intoxicating. The sound installation combines waltz and octopus to create a new utopian space and is intended to open up possibilities to musically immerse oneself in the depths of Johann Strauss and experience his waltzes ‘with the motion of the waves of the sea’.

01 - 13 September 2025
Landing strip - On the beautiful blue Danube
by Peter Kutin | God's Entertainment
Wherever in the world passengers board Austrian Airlines flights, they are greeted with the sounds of the Austrian waltz king Johann Strauss in Vienna. Landing strip - On the beautiful blue Danube as a new double face of the Strauss waltz is not only synonymous
for blue, marvellous waves and the melos of the noise when the aircraft engines are heard. This composition deals with the evaluation of environmental policy approaches and is intended to contribute to society's reflection on its present and future.

A five-course meal with Strauss and guests
When the librettist of his opera Ritter Pásmán gave him a cake decorated with sheet music from the opera for his birthday, Strauss thanked him with the following words: ‘At last you have put something edible under my music.’ This statement is taken as an opportunity to serve a three-course
course menu of his music. It remains to be seen whether Strauss's music contributes to the edibility of the dish or whether the selection of certain flavours does. In any case, the audience is invited to do more than just listen to Strauss' music: They should smell, taste and touch the olfactory and flavour waltz!

‘Tentacular’ waltz
Is the waltz an artistic ‘work’ or music for everyday use? For the feet or for the ear? Or for the octopuses? But can octopuses actually waltz? They have their neurons spread all over their bodies, making it impossible to distinguish between brain and body.
body. Who dances how? And with whom? These questions are at the centre of this waltz. In a translation process, the embodied knowledge of the octopods is filtered into the Viennese waltz so that it can also be understood by human bodies. A tentacular dance training for a collective organism that constantly expands its abilities and scrutinises social structures.