In August 2007 HILDEGARD BEHRENS made her debut performance of Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire at the KUSATSU FESTIVAL in Japan, conducted by Francis Travis--in whose class she first learned the piece, which Schönberg created for ensemble and Sprechstimme (a vocal technique that falls between singing and speaking), while attending the University of Freiburg. Parts of the video have voice-over commentaries (in German) by Ms. Behrens herself made during an interview for a one-hour documentary film on HILDEGARD BEHRENS, "Ausdruck und Schönheit", by Eckhard Schmidt which was broadcast nationally on German TV in early 2009.

There's more about this performance in a piece Ms. Behrens herself wrote for FanFaire HERE.