“The centrepiece of the evening is John Adams’ string septet ‘Shaker Loops’ (1978) … The choreographies for the individual movements are effective. At the beginning of the second movement, a plastic bag dances its lonely dance in a wind vortex created on stage. A beautifully reduced, poetic quotation from the film ‘American Beauty’ (at the same time a reference to the founding period of Nico and the Navigators, as the film was released in 1999).”

“Extremely well succeeded is the illustration of Georges Aperghis’ “Récitation No. 10” (subtly arranged by conductor Jonathan Stockhammer), in which Hümpel lets the individual recited words become the “yoga flow” of a gymnastics class. Another work from the field of new music (Sciarrino’s “6 Capricci per Violin”) also provides an interesting, even music-mediating counterpoint. Scenes of sass, freshness and wit … also stand out positively.”

“Nicola Hümpel and her Navigators have freely adapted T.S. Eliot’s lyrical jubilee text for an evening of theatre that grabs you right by the jugular … Pleasantly, the production refrains from any hammer-and-peen updates; its strength lies in its reliance on the poetic word. At the centre of the evening is Ted Schmitz, a US singer and actor of the highest order … he speaks Eliot’s poem in British English with such tonal beauty and archaic urgency that everything around him sinks in during his recitation on the dark empty stage.”

“The Kuss Quartet, one of the most renowned chamber music ensembles, and Nico and the Navigators, one of the most important free music theatre collectives from Berlin, take on Beethoven’s late works together within the SWR Festival. There is no need to fear that the music will be superficially illustrated by the actors of the free group. Rather, the performers “relate” to the music as if they were partners at eye level. […]

“For me it was surprising how sincerely human and touching these works are, beyond the usual titanic clichés. Some passages are heard quite differently today than they were two years ago – and in the face of external constraints, one thinks anew about inner freedom.” / Nicola Hümpel […]”.

“Music and theatre and dance and performance, the stage works of Nico and the Navigators are usually image-saturated and thought-space-opening productions in which it all flows into each other. You marvel and get smart while watching.”