BrechtFest V (2024)

BrechtFest was started in 2019 by accordionist/composer David C. Symons and pianist/composer/puppeteer Harry Mayronne. Roughly coinciding with Brecht’s birthday of February 10th, it features a large cast of New Orleans singers, actors, and poets, accompanied by a 7 piece chamber orchestra. Each year features new arrangements of the music of Brecht collaborators such as Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, as well as original musical settings of Brecht’s poetry, sung by an ever changing cast of local performers. Better known as one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century, Brecht’s vast and magnificent corpus of poetry and songs would place him among the greats of modern literature had he never written a single play. Every year, the cast of BrechtFest brings this work to life in a small theater in the sordid underbelly of New Orleans St. Claude Avenue. BrechtFest is a fundraiser for Innocence Project New Orleans and has raised thousands of dollars for legal aid to exonerate wrongfully convicted death row prisoners in Louisiana.

BrechtFest is a fundraiser for Innocence Project New Orleans, and has raised thousands of dollars for legal aid to wrongfully convicted death row prisoners in Louisiana.