ORF editor Clemens Janout from the culture section spoke to the versatile artist at “Cafee and Cake”. Andrea Eckert is now 66 years old and has had engagements in the Burgtheater, the Volkstheater in Vienna and the Theater an der Josefstadt. She is currently playing the role of operatic legend Maria Callas at the City Theater Klagenfurt. The title of the piece is Master Class. This production was performed for the first time in 1997 at the Volkstheater in Vienna. It’s been about 30 years now, and Eckert has already performed hundreds.
Masterclass in the City Theater Klagenfurt
Andrea Eckert is one of the most successful actresses in German-speaking countries. The native of Lower Austria is currently on stage at the Klagenfurt City Theater and impresses with her performance of the opera legend “Maria Callas”.
A Callas: “That’s partly me”
When asked what fascinates her about this role, Eckert said it was Maria Callas: “She was a great singer of the last century and an artist that I admire a lot because of her attitude on the world Art, on her profession. , because of her ruthlessness with herself, her addiction to the truth, it must be said, and her talent and her voice and her commitment.” This role is a lifetime role for Eckert, said ORF editor Janout. When asked if there were any similarities, Eckert said that when the director of the Volkstheater at the time offered her this role in 1996, she read the play and thought: “That’s partly me too.”
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This is largely due to her teacher, Eckert said: “I really admired my acting teacher, Dorothea Neff, and she was a theater legend in Vienna. And her teaching was very similar to what Maria Callas did with her students: it was so compassionate, independent and wise that I understood the piece well from the beginning – and I was much younger back then .”
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The stage as a refuge
A woman from Lower Austria first got into acting when she was a teenager when she wasn’t feeling well: “During puberty, I was in a very difficult phase that I couldn’t handle at all nothing by myself and I couldn’t. t talk about it either as he was in a big time crunch. I knew I had to go to a place where people would notice me and where I could show and expose myself to people. I didn’t dare to do that in real life and real life completely slipped away from me.”
The need to come to the theater was so great, Eckert said, that it was not worth canceling the Reinhardt Seminar. “It was obvious that I had to do this. I will do it now.” When Max Reinhardt’s seminar was cancelled, Eckert tried various private universities in Vienna, which were not very satisfactory for her. So she finally came to Dorothea Neff, who trained her privately in her home: “I really learned from Dorothea Neff that you bring your own feelings to the role and connect with it.” The stage closed Eckert’s shelter and remains so to this day.
Maria Callas
he was born on December 2, 1923. The Greek singer also had Italian citizenship and was one of the most important sopranos of the 20th century. “The” Callas appeared in many roles. His repertoire included 43 complete roles as well as arias from 34 other operas. She died aged 53 on 16 September 1977 ( Wikipedia ).
Great audience in Klagenfurt
In a conversation with Clemens Janout, Andrea Eckert showed roses to the Carinthian theater audience: “The Klagenfurt audience made a big crowd for me. I am from Vienna and the Viennese theater audience is legendary. But what I had here was something I had never experienced before. I have never experienced – and the Master Class in Vienna was a great success – that the audience jumps up from their seats and shouts bravo the first time I bow. I was really moved to tears. This is warmth and enthusiasm and also an understanding of the piece, which is not easy to eat. I think that’s great.”
When asked if being an actor means that something else in life falls by the wayside, Eckert replied: “Yeah, definitely”. Others might have been able to handle it differently, she never could, Eckert said: “I threw myself into this job with my heart and soul. Maybe that also has something to do with my teacher Dorothea Neff, who said at the time, if you think of something else you want to do, do it. But if you do that, then you’re in order, you have to know that, and you can’t leave it again. Those were just life decisions. Ultimately, I have always prioritized my professional life over my private life.”
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Theater as a place for shared communication
Andrea Eckert also appears as a singer and sometimes works as a filmmaker. But her heart is for the theatre: “It is this communication with the audience that makes the theater so lively and that I still believe in the theatre. I believe people come to hear stories being told and to be a part of them.”
The theater is one of the last analog places, Ecker said, and that’s what the theater should be appreciated for: “I’m not in favor of playing everything in historical green, but I think you have to think about what Quality really is. she doesn’t believe theater is in danger of dying out, the actress said. In contrast to the digital world, theater is still a place “where you can be together and experience something with together.”
“The stage is my home”
She could not say what would happen next, said Eckert, “I really live in the moment and things have always come my way.” The stage is her home, says Eckert: “And if I’m in this home until the end of my life, I’m happy.”