About

BrechtFest was started in 2019 by accordionist/composer David C. Symons and pianist/composer/puppeteer Harry Mayronne. Roughly coinciding with Brecht’s birthday of February 10th, it features a large cast of New Orleans singers and actors accompanied by a chamber orchestra. Each year brings new arrangements of the music of Brecht collaborators such as Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, as well as original musical settings of Brecht’s poetry. Though better known as one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century, Brecht also wrote a vast body of poetry and songs that would place him among the greats of modern literature had he never written a single play. Every year, the cast of BrechtFest brings this work to life in a small theater in the sordid underbelly of New Orleans St. Claude Avenue. The BrechtFest event is a fundraiser for Innocence and Justice Louisiana (formerly Innocence Project New Orleans) and has raised thousands of dollars for legal aid to work to free those who are wrongfully convicted and unjustly punished.