Friday, 2/6/2026
at 8:00 PM



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Oliver Steller will go on a Germany tour again in spring 2025. After 5 years, he finally has a new program: „Balladen – Das Gedicht Plus“.
He has been collecting these text hybrids for 30 years. Ballads are lyrical like a poem, epic like a novel, and exciting like a thriller. The ballad is the poem plus! The modern troubadour speaks and sings the ballads to music. The themes have not changed until today: love, life, death, nature, and the great events of the time.
Oliver Steller has gathered all the greats, including Goethe and Schiller with their ballad competition from 1797. In that year, Heinrich Heine was born, who for Oliver Steller, alongside Else Lasker-Schüler and Friedrich Hölderlin, is among the greatest German poets.
The human in his environment is a major theme of the 19th century, which among others, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff captures so impressively with her “Knaben im Moor.” Karoline von Günderrode is a wonderful discovery for Oliver Steller, so strong, so clear, and yet so torn. In just 26 years, she leaves behind a powerful body of work, including the ballad “Der Trauernde und die Elfen.”
Theodor Fontane corrupted Oliver Steller with his Herr von Ribbeck back then. That was in third grade. He had to recite the ballad in front of the class, got laughed at, and received a 6. That was the end of poetry for him. Oliver Steller rediscovered his love for literature after school. Today, he enjoys talking about Herr von Ribbeck together with the children time and time again.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer with his ballad “Füße im Feuer” opened Oliver Steller's eyes regarding the expulsion of Protestants in France, the so-called Huguenots. The French were so thorough that today only two percent of Protestants live in France.
Also included in the program are Adelbert von Chamisso with his giant toy, Otto Ernst with Nis Randers, Morgenstern's werewolf, Erich Kästner's Sachliche Romanze, and a ballad that is particularly dear to Oliver Steller. Since his collaboration with Heinz Kahlau, the master student of Bertolt Brecht, and a joint Brecht program with Lutz Görner, this ballad has accompanied him: “Die Legende von der Entstehung des Buches Taoteking auf dem Weg des Laotse in die Emigration.” It is considered a work of exile literature. For Oliver Steller, it is a tribute to Heinz Kahlau and to his mentor Lutz Görner, who passed away last spring.

Copyright: Stadt Meerbusch

Doors open: 19:15 Uhr

Event data provided by: Reservix

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