REWIND-PLAY-FORWARD – closing celebration

On 22.12.22, Esch2022 invites you to the festive closing evening of the first chapter of the European Capital of Culture.

To celebrate the closing of the European Capital of Culture title year, Esch2022, together with the 19 Luxembourgish and the French municipalities invites you to the Rockhal in Esch-Belval on Thursday 22 December from 17:30 and to an after-show at the new cultural centre L`Arche in Villerupt (FR). The first part of “Esch2022 – REWIND-PLAY-FORWARD” invites you to a joint review of the year from 5:30 p.m. to approx. 8 p.m.; afterwards, visitors will be delighted with concerts, performances and dance at the Rockhal, and the evening will end with a DJ programme at the Arche.

“Even if the pulse of Esch2022 will continue to be felt locally and internationally in the years to come, we would like to close the chapter of the “title year” on 22 December. We will look back together on numerous projects and events, new partnerships that have set impulses for the future; but we also want to celebrate proudly and exuberantly with all those who were and are part of Esch2022, who have actively shaped or followed it. This evening should be a moment of gathering, joy and dance, in Luxembourg and in France,” says Nancy Braun, General Director Esch2022.

The Rockhal opens its doors at 16:30. As at the opening ceremony, the specially created Esch2022 musical ensemble Future Frequencies – an ensemble of locally recruited musicians – together with the collective Compagnie Les Passagers will introduce the Esch2022 REWIND-PLAYFORWARD – year review. The show will offer surprises, great music and diversity – participating municipalities as well as local actors will provide an entertaining and emotional evening thanks to video shows and immersive visual and audio experiences combined with flashbacks, outlooks and dialogue sessions.

Twelve theme-based performances to review the year

The common thread of the REWIND-PLAY-FORWARD – year review, will be twelve theme-based performances by various actors and partners. The participating Esch2022 communities as well as partners will present their cultural and touristic Esch2022 highlights and give a first outlook on the legacy of the title year for the years to come. The audience will thus be guided through the various facets and dimensions of Esch2022 in the first half of the evening. The focus will be on artistic achievements, emerging places, cultural appropriation of existing places, new virtual and digital horizons, artists’ residencies, sustainable projects, immigration stories, culture, industrial heritage, local traditions, cross-border and international cooperation with Kaunas 2022 and Novi Sad 2022, tourism and Europe. The experience will be underlined by local music, art, acrobatics and culinary.

“We look back on the title year of the European Capital of Culture, a year full of exciting events in new and familiar places, with old and new friends, familiar traditions rethought and innovative ideas which take root. Our cross-border region has already changed in a positive way, it has become more visible, also on an international level,” says Georges Mischo, President of Esch2022. “Many new ways, including networks, have already developed from a collective spirit; a new direction that we will maintain in the coming months and years, as the Esch2022 project continues to build our common future united.”

Up to 5000 visitors can attend

From 8pm to 11pm, up to 5,000 guests can take part in various shows. The projects included here were part of the official Esch2022  programme and are intended to be representative of all the projects and to exude the spirit and energy of Esch2022.

On the floor of the Rockhal, dance and theatre will welcome guests at 8:30 pm as part of an Apero Litteraire. Starting 9 pm, the Main Hall of the Rockhal will be heated up by the collective Belong in collaboration with AlterCadance and the Capoeira Team Luxembourg. The three projects of Esch2022 join forces in the form of an extraordinary stage and music spectacle. The audience will meet 30 musicians and dancers who will take them on a sound journey to the four corners of the world.

In the Club of Rockhal, the Belgian collective La Jungle – Collaborations Brutes will rock also starting 9pm. As of 10.15pm, Desoeuvres and E(s)chauffes will continue the show in an intimate setting. To continue the evening, the new cultural pole Arche in Villerupt will welcome the public from 11pm to 3am. Here, the electronic music of Miss Sappho, the collective La Creole, Bernadette as well as the collective La Zintrie will make the Red Earth shake. Shuttle buses will be provided between the Rockhal and the Arche in Villerupt from 16:00 to 03:00.

© Eric Devillet Miss Sappho

Free admission upon reservation

Ticket reservations will start on 1 December. Admission is free, but online ticket booking is required.

Info and registrations at  esch2022.lu