06/06 //\ 19:30 //\ Pygmalion Theater
Ana Marwan hosted by Maša Dabić
Concert: Jelena Popržan & Flora Geißelbrecht
Ana Marwan grew up in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she obtained a degree in comparative literature. She has lived in Vienna since 2005 and she writes in German and Slovene. Her books include the novels Der Kreis des Weberknechts (Otto Müller Verlag, 2019) and Zabubljena (Beletrina, 2021), as well as two collections of short prose Wechselkröte (Otto Müller Verlag, 2022), and Sei Erich (Edition Thurnhof, 2024). Her work has garnered prizes and distinctions, including the 2021 Kritiško sito for the best book in Slovenia and the 2022 Bachmannpreis 2022. She has served as editor with the journal Literatur und Kritik and is currently serving as a curator with the festival Literatur Kultursommer Wien.
Maša Dabić was born in Sarajevo. She studied Translation and Interpreting and earned her PhD at the University of Vienna, where she teaches translation and interpreting with a focus on Russian. She translates literature, theatre plays, and poetry—primarily from the Balkan region—into German and collaborates with cultural and theatre institutions. Her first literary translation was Barbi Marković’s Ausgehen (Suhrkamp, 2009). Most recently, she translated Tanja Šljivar’s novel Nationaltheater (Suhrkamp, 2026). In 2017 she published her first novel, Reibungsverluste (edition atelier), which addresses the practice of interpreting in psychotherapy.
Jelena Popržan & Flora Geißelbrecht
Two violas, two voices, two classically trained musicians, performers, improvisers and composers who don’t feel at home in any genre, but plunder the vaults of all genres instead, and before you can catch them they’re already bound for new shores. They research musical traditions and mint new ones off the cuff.
Jelena Popržan, a fixture on the Austrian music scene for over a decade, is considered ‘one of the most versatile and adaptable musicians in the country’ (Ö1). Both in her many musical projects and in the theatre, she captivates the audience with her stage presence and charisma. ‘Any which way the ear is turned, it is met with a manifold artistic intention.’ (Der Standard)
Flora Geißelbrechts, with her toolbox full of experimental playing, preparation and singing techniques, turns herself and her viola into a meta-instrument which is just as familiar as it is unique in jazz, folk and Neue Musik. Through sound exploration and blending, paying attention to the finest of subtleties, she melds her voice and her viola into a seamless whole.
Flora and Jelena were fans and role models to each other before they met in person for the first time in the summer of 2022 at the Monday Improvisers’ Session in Vienna. They had only one viola and they gave a short performance with one instrument, two bows and their two voices, and thus the duo was born.
The reading will be held in English.
Supported by Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Kunst, Kultur, Medien und Sport, Stadt Wien, Bezirk Margareten, Bezirk Josefstadt, Bezirk Neubau, Photo Cluster, ÖH and Hotel Korotan.