At the beginning of the nineteen fifties, the bridge between Štúrovo (Slovakia) and Esztergom (Hungary) was in ruins. It was almost impossible for relatives and friends on each side of the Danube to get in touch or communicate. People would go down to the river, mostly on windless evenings, to talk to each other. The water carried the sound of short messages, often encoded, to the other bank half a kilometre away.

The AquaPhone performance refers to this phenomenon, honouring all the lives whose secrets had at one time been entrusted to the Danube, recalling this testimony of people's yearning to talk together, and of their inventive genius bridging borders and distances under difficult conditions.

The Swiss musicians Alfred Zimmerlin and Markus Eichenberger took up the idea of Hanneke Frühauf and created this performance, a musical improvisation on a dialogue. Zoltán Csehy's text will cross the Danube in the original Hungarian and in Slovak and German translation. It will be accompanied by improvisations on cello and clarinet by the Swiss musicians.

The performance follows the VIIIth Bridge Guard Book Festival in Štúrovo with participation of publishers from Slovakia and Hungary. In the afternoon the exhibition of the 29th bridge guard opens in the Bridge Guard Residence followed by a discussion with present authors. After the AquaPhone performance local food and drinks will be served in the courtyard of the residence and the international world music group Freedom Café will play.

Štúrovo, June 7th, 2014 (Saturday), 11:00 – 22:00

Michal Hvorecký	Writer. Born 1976 in Bratislava. Studied esthetic. Writes short stories, novels and blogs. His books have been published in six languages. He translates prose and plays from German. He is married and has a son. They live in Bratislava. His novel 'Danube in America' is related to the river the AquaPhone performance is arching. Recently he published 'By heart', a portrait of the author and the landscape. His website is www.hvorecky.sk.
Renáta Deáková	Translator. She was born in 1968 in Bratislava, she lives currently in Budapest. She studies Slovak and Hungarian languages on the Komenský University in Bratislava. Renáta translates Hungarian literature in Slovak languages and she received a number of awards for her translations. She is the founder of the Mona Sentimental association that supports the propagation of Slovak literature and culture abroad.
Mirko Kraetsch	Translator, reader, facilitator. Born 1971 in Dresden. Studied Czech language and Culture Sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin and Charles University in Prague. Translates Czech and Slovak literature into German. Helps with the presentation of Czech and Slovak literature in German speaking countries and supports writers in contacting interested publishers.
Markus Eichenberger	Musician (clarinet), music teacher, composer. Lives in Zürich and Menzberg (CH). Since 1982 solo projects. Concerts in Europe, radio and television broadcasts.
Alfred Zimmerlin	Music ethnologist, composer, musician (cello) and music critic. Lives in Uster (CH). Concerts and radio recordings in Europe and USA.
Tomáš Radil	Works at the Institue for Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, is professor for psychology in Prague, author. Born in 1930 in Bratislava. Since 1940 lived in Parkan (today Štúrovo), the birth place of his parents, went to school in Esztergom. 1944 deported with the whole family to Auschwitz, only he and his father returned. Author of two books: 'With fourteen alone in Auschwitz' published in Czech, 'Auschwitz boys' published in Hungarian. Lives in Prague.
Gyöngyi Ėcsi	Folk singer, fairy tale teller, puppeteer. Soloist in the folk ensemble 'Young Hearts' from Bratislava, singer in the group 'Vents d’Est'. She was the first recipient of the Anikó Mikola award in year 2007. She lives in Chotín (Slovakia).
Freedom Café	International world music group lead by Márton Bakai from Esztergom.
Organisers, supporters:	Cultural association "Štúrovo and Vicinity", Association of the "Slovak-Hungarian Friendship", Štúrovo "Štefan and Viera Frühauf Fonds" of the Corymbo Foundation, Baden, Switzerland
Patronage:	SWISS EMBASSY BRATISLAVA

Štúrovo, June 7th, 2014 (Saturday)

Text:                Michal Hvorecký
Translation   Renáta Deáková (Hungarian),
                        Mirko Kraetsch (German)
Music:             Markus Eichenberger, Clarinet,
                       Alfred Zimmerlin, Cello 
Speaker:         Éva Uzsák,
                      Karol Frühauf
Sound:           Roman Laščiak,
                       Pavol Prockl
Production:    Juraj Himmler