Kannst du pfeifen, Johanna at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Ulf has a grandpa; Berra doesn't, but he wishes he had one like Ulf's – a grandpa who likes pork knuckle, drinks coffee and eats cake with his grandchildren. And then Ulf gets an idea and off they go to the old people's home, looking for a granddad for Berra. There they meet Nils – old, lonely, no grandchildren ..the perfect grandpa for Berra. Nils doesn't like pork knuckle but knows how to make a kite, and he can whistle – something Berra has always wanted to do.

Ulf Stark's cheery and unconventional children's book “Can you whistle, Johanna”, winner of the German Youth Literature Award, tells the unsentimental story of the last weeks in the life of a lonely, elderly man suddenly presented with a chance to be a child again. The young composer Gordon Kampe, who recently provided the soundtrack to a new version of SINBAD THE SAILOR commissioned by Südwestrundfunk., wrote the music to this powerful and poetic encounter between two generations. The work is directed by Dutchwoman Annechien Koerselman, winner of the “Junge Ohren-Preis 2012”.