Lutz Rath Returns To Bay Street Theater With Five Nation Ensemble

The world-famous cellist, conductor and artist Lutz Rath brings his signature yet unconventional style back to Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on March 12 with “Five Nation Ensemble,” a program blending politics, music, culture and art through a set of unusual performances.

After a years-long hiatus, Mr. Rath said he wanted put on another show for his familiar Hamptons audience. He lived in Sag Harbor for eight years and performed at Bay Street often. He is temporarily back in town to conceive music for Kenny Mann’s play “The Curse,” which will premiere at Guild Hall in October, and said that since he is already here, the opportunity presented itself to return to Bay Street.

“I love the Bay Street Theater. It’s a wonderful place and I like the audience in the Hamptons,” Mr. Rath said. “Some of the audience is attracted to these exceptional programs.”

Classical, elegant music isn’t commonly paired with risqué and bizarre elements, but Mr. Rath makes that happen in his program. The lineup features live calligraphy, violin and cello duos, poem recitals and a harp performance, combined with partial nudity, surrealism and political undertones.

For part of the show, the Chinese master calligrapher who calls herself “Red Square” will paint a Heart Sutra poem on the topless Russian model and designer Ullie de Osu, and recite her poem aloud to the audience. Mr. Rath noted that the nudity is necessary to the performance because it is part of the art form of live calligraphy, but it is discreet enough to remain tasteful and not overly provocative.

“Not only is she a master calligrapher, but she is also a tea specialist. She comes from a long line of tea connoisseurs in China and she also does extraordinary tea ceremonies in New York and all over the world,” Mr. Rath raved of Red Square. “On top of that, she has a phenomenal voice. I never knew how beautiful Chinese can sound. It’s extraordinary.”

Mr. Rath decided to include himself in this program, as he’s done in past shows like “Midnight Saturday Night” in 2010 and “Degenerate Music + Words” in 2008, but this time he does so in a way that stresses the program’s political theme. Along with Japanese violinist Eriko Sato, Mr. Rath will be playing the cello to music by German composers Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht. Mr. Eisler particularly appealed to Mr. Rath because he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 after being accused of communist practices in the motion picture industry.

He will also be narrating the surrealist poem “An Anna Blume” by the German poet Kurt Schwitters, who Mr. Rath said was one of the forbidden artists during the Nazi period.

The nearly two-hour program will also feature the French harp virtuoso Melanie Genin, who will play Camille Saint-Saens’s Fantasie on the harp with Ms. Sato on violin, and Mikhail Glinka’s Romance on the harp with Ms. Sato on violin and Mr. Rath on cello.

The five performers in the program all come from different countries—Germany, China, Japan, Russia and France—engendering the name Five Nation Ensemble and adding a sense of cultural unity and diversity.

“That’s what I believe is the unity. Everyone is from different countries but our goal is the same. We just speak different languages, maybe use different expressions through different music, different art, but we remain one with unity,” Red Square said. “I’m really looking forward to bringing this unity through art, through music, and through my expression of calligraphy.”

To form such a dynamic lineup, Mr. Rath said he chose artists and musicians whom he admires and has a close relationship with.

“The French harpist is a superstar. She is an incredible artist and she got very, very known and gained notoriety through her program called Moby Dick,” Mr. Rath shared. “Eriko Sato I’ve known for 30 years. She’s a major violinist in New York City. The calligrapher is sort of a recent acquisition, which I got to know through the art world.”

The current political climate makes this program even more critical, not because of its politically infused content, but rather the program itself as a display of visual and performance art, Mr. Rath said.

“In the present political climate where the administration is cutting or even eliminating the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities and defunding public information services, we as artists have an even more important role to engage in programs of visionary content,” he wrote in an email, referring to President Donald Trump’s reported plans to cut certain programs in order to trim domestic spending.

“Five Nation Ensemble” will be performed at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Sunday, March 12 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 at the box office or at Kramoris Gallery, 41 Main Street, Sag Harbor. Visit baystreet.org for more information.