“The present is shown…” To mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, the performance ensemble Nico and the Navigators, together with the Kuss Quartet, actually wanted to develop a project entitled “Force and Freedom”, which would question the composer’s chamber music in terms of biographical references and contemporary aspects. When rehearsals had to be interrupted during the Corona crisis, the involuntary isolation resulted in a joint video diary, which brought together individual associations and previously researched material. In the live concert with the Kuss Quartet on 14 June, excerpts from it will be shown. At the centre of the evening is Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 135, together with the dancer Yui Kawaguchi. This piece has an obligatory motto for the artists: “Must it be? It must be!”. In this sense, the actual, more comprehensive concept “Force and Freedom” will be implemented at a later date.