Pynarello & Joost Oomen

Pynarello & Joost Oomen is a moving performance centered on an imagined conversation with a euthanasia patient. While writer, poet, and theater maker Joost Oomen is known for his exceptionally energetic presentations full of humor and creativity, in this concert he reveals a more vulnerable side, inspired in part by his father, who works as a euthanasia physician.

The poetry is intertwined with the timeless music of Robert Schumann, performed by Pynarello. Through a new arrangement for strings and winds, the ensemble brings a fresh sonic color to Schumann’s Gesänge der Frühe, composed toward the end of his life, and his Kinderszenen, which pay tribute to the innocence and purity of childhood.

Schumann’s music reflects his inner conflict through the characters Eusebius and Florestan: the dreamy, gentle side versus the fiery, impulsive side. These figures also symbolize the dual layer present in euthanasia conversations: joyful memories alongside the melancholy surrounding death. In this performance, words and music together amplify this layering, where joy and melancholy merge as the essence of life.