By then, the ageing star had not left her Paris apartment for nine years, and only communicated with the outside world via telephone. This is how she spoke with Reagan and Gorbachev and, for a span of three hours, with Lemper herself... about Berlin and Paris, and Brecht and Weill. About love and freedom, Nazis and resistance, pain and ecstasy... in other words, about her life. It is upon these three hours and this life that Lemper, who has lived in the United States since 1999, has based her most recent production, Rendezvous with Marlene. Thirty years have passed since that phone call from Dietrich. Since then, it has become apparent that Lemper is just as essential a figure in the world of chansons as her predecessor, who died in 1992, was. She has recorded more than 30 albums so far, which venture beyond the classics to include songs written by the likes of Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass and Nick Cave. Nowadays, it is not even slightly awkward to mention the two names together. In fact, since the première of 'Rendezvous' last year, it has been a necessity... because Lemper - and her acoustic orchestra - not only summon forth Dietrich's greatest hits, they also evoke the flaming hell and heaven in which she lived and worked. And into which Friedrich Hollaender, József Kozma, Jacques Brel, Cole Porter, Leonello Casucci and the other immortal greats happily placed their own hells and heavens...

Ute Lemper will talk briefly about each of the songs to be heard in English.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest