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Ann Sophie looking back on the ESC: "I had no control over the events"

2023-03-22T18:59:29.870Z


Ann Sophie proved that she can sing at the ESC in 2015 - even if she ended up at the bottom. But life goes on, the now 32-year-old still makes music, now she can be seen in the musical "Mata Hari" at Munich's Gärtnerplatztheater - as Mata Hari, pop star. A conversation about a dazzling personality and a look back.


Ann Sophie proved that she can sing at the ESC in 2015 - even if she ended up at the bottom.

But life goes on, the now 32-year-old still makes music, now she can be seen in the musical "Mata Hari" at Munich's Gärtnerplatztheater - as Mata Hari, pop star.

A conversation about a dazzling personality and a look back.

Margaretha Gertruida Zelle's life ended with her execution in the war year of 1917. In Vincennes Castle near Paris, a firing squad carried out the death sentence for high treason against the Dutch woman, born in 1876. The woman, who called herself Mata Hari as an artist, had in the years after the turn of the century in made a splash in the French capital as a dancer who has mastered the “art of erotic undressing” perfectly.

As her star began to decline, she hired herself out as a spy for both the German and French sides until she was exposed and court-martialled.

Marc Schubring and Kevin Schroeder created the musical "Mata Hari" for the Gärtnerplatztheater, which traces the myth of the diva and double agent.

Florine Schnitzel can be seen in the lead role of Margarethazelle,

Ms. Dürmeyer, what did you know about Mata Hari before you got the role?

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

I knew what most people my age probably know.

That she performed as a nude dancer and worked or is said to have worked as an agent during the time of the First World War.

Now I know more about her.

In any case, she was a dazzling personality, around which many legends and myths are entwined.

What is Mata Hari for you?

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

For me, she is a woman who wanted with great passion to free herself from the normal life she lived.

A woman who was brave and probably also a bit crazy.

Are you alluding to the dancer or the spy?

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

As far as espionage is concerned, it was probably the case that she didn't even know what she was getting herself into.

She didn't want to give up her life of luxury.

And when she was offered a lot of money for leaking military secrets, she took it.

The title character in this work exists twice...

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

Yes, there is a through-composed piece in which Florine Schnitzel tells the bourgeois life of Margaretha Zelle, interrupted by pop songs in which this life is illuminated from the perspective of the artist Mata Hari.

I portray what Margarethazelle actually wants to be - a star who has the audience at her feet.

Is there anything that viewers can take away?

Ann Sophie Durmeyer:

Yes!

That it's not worth just being there for others, because then you can't live the life you're passionate about.

Living the life you're passionate about - we're talking about Ann Sophie, the musical actress.

You told us in an interview with the ESC that you wanted to be a musician when you were 14.

But that certainly meant the solo career.

Have you changed your mind?

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

Dreams are allowed to change.

I'm still making music, but I also have to make money.

After the ESC I thought: why don't you do musicals?

Playing, singing, dancing, you all enjoy it!

And when I had my first show, I realized: I love the theater!

I think it's great to be able to do both, to tell my story about my music - and in roles that also contain a lot of my personality.

No compromise solution?

Ann Sophie Durmeyer:

No!

There are so many great pieces, there are so many opportunities to meet great people and work on something together with them.

The life of a solo musician can be very lonely.

Let's talk about the ESC again.

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

That was clear to me.

(Laughs.)

In many comments on your video from back then on YouTube you can read sentences like "Most underestimated appearance in ESC history".

How does that feel today?

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Last place: Ann Sophie with "Blake Smoke" at the ESC in 2015.

© Julian Stratenschulte

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

I don't know what happened behind the scenes at the time.

All I know is that Germany has the same experience of finishing at the bottom almost every year and that I just had to experience this once.

The bad thing was not having any control over the events in Vienna and the time after.

When I look at the video today, I'm proud of it, then I think: Hey, you were 24, had no idea about anything, you stood there and did your job.

But the ESC is ticked off for me.

Nevertheless, you brought it up again two years ago on "The Voice of Germany"...

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

That was very important to me, I needed that.

Wouldn't you describe the fact that it wasn't enough to win as a defeat?

Ann Sophie Dürmeyer:

No, not at all.

The blind audition was crucial for me, because I wanted to show myself as the singer who wrote her first songs at 20.

At the ESC you immediately get caught in a hamster wheel and no longer have the opportunity to do so.

Do you think about how things would have gone on if you had won or placed well at the ESC?

Ann Sophie Durmeyer:

No.

Could have, bicycle chain.

(Laughs.)

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Standing room: Ann Sophie Dürmeyer in conversation with culture editor Rudolf Ogiermann.

© Oliver Bodmer

Source: merkur

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