NESLIHAN SCHMIDT
WITH GUEST SPEAKER DR ANDRZEY ANCYGIER (CLIMATE POLICY EXPERT)





This event is part of ClimateKeys, a glocal initiative launching with over thirty concerts in nine countries during October & November 2017 to raise public engagement with CoP23, the 2017 UN climate talks taking place in November. ClimateKeys, founded by London-based composer pianist Lola Perrin, features concert pianists and climate change experts collaborating in performances that include a conversation with the audience about positive response to climate change. To date, over a hundred concert musicians and expert speakers in twenty countries have joined ClimateKeys. More concerts are being planned through 2018.




15 November 2017 at 20:00 Uhr
Berlin, Germany



Our generation is the most powerful in history. We have the power to decide about the wellbeing and suffering of the next generations. We will also be judged by the future generations how we used this unprecedented power.

In few areas will our action or inaction be more consequential for the future generations than in the area of climate change. The greenhouse gas emissions that each of us contribute to currently, will increase the temperature, strengthen the hurricanes, prolong the droughts and worsen the floods that will be experienced by our children, grandchildren and grand grandchildren. The sea level rise will continue for up to 10.000 years after we have dealt with the issue of climate change – or were decimated by it.

But our generation is facing a special responsibility for dealing with climate change not only because of the damage it may cause by following the established path of burning all it can dig out of the ground, but also because it has the tools to change this path. Only since the beginning of this decade the costs of wind energy decreased by two thirds and the costs of solar energy by 85%. Costs decrease for batteries is gaining momentum and offering new opportunities for carbon neutral transport. Energy efficiency is decreasing energy consumption despite economic growth.

While attempting to decrease the negative repercussions of our addiction to fossil fuels on the future generations, we should also use the opportunity to make the world a better place not only for them – but also for us. Fight against climate change offers us the chance to stop financing the dictators and autocrats playing the role of drug dealers satisfying our fossil addiction. Instead of subsidizing international energy companies, which have been ignoring the issue for so long clearly knowing the stakes, we can send the money to our farmers producing the energy in energy cooperatives, or produce the power on our roofs. Finally, freeing ourselves from the custom of burning fossil fuels will save the lives millions people, sometime also our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and sons and daughters, who die every year due to air pollution coming from our cars and chimneys.

The stakes have never been higher. And it’s our turn. (Andrzej Ancygier)








"We’ve heard and read a lot about climate change for years and years. But in the past two years it’s becomes more apparent for everyone in daily life. The extreme weather conditions we face all over the planet show each of us the effects, and this might only be the beginning. I want to draw the attention of my friends and colleagues, the people around me to this important issue and to make them aware that we all must act, we have to gather and put pressure on the governments to achieve worldwide and immediate action against the global warming. My son, who has just started school, and his friends shall live in a world which is at least as good as the one I know. For him and for us all I think it is my duty, it is our all duty to participate in the movement to reduce climate change." (NESLIHAN SCHMIDT)


Programme

Clara Schumann - Variationen über ein Thema von Robert Schumann Op. 20

Alexander Skrjabin - Prélude für die linke Hand Op. 9 Nr. 1

Leopold Godowsky - Elegy für die linke Hand

A. Adnan Saygun - Sonatina Op. 15


NESLIHAN SCHMIDT wurde in Istanbul geboren und erhielt ihren ersten Klavierunterricht im Alter von fünf Jahren. Bereits als Sechsjährige gab sie ihr erstes öffentliches Konzert. Ihr Studium begann sie 1988 am Staatlichen Konservatorium der Mimar Sinan Universität, das sie im Jahre 1999 mit Auszeichnung abschloss. Auf Einladung des bekannten deutschen Pianisten und Hochschulprofessors Thomas Duis kam sie nach Deutschland und begann ihr Studium an der Hochschule für Musik Saar im selben Jahr. Auf Grund ihrer außergewöhnlichen Leistungen erhielt Neslihan Schmidt ein Stipendium der Universität Saarbrücken. Nach dem Diplom zur Musiklehrerin im Jahre 2003 setzte sie ihre Studien bei Prof. Duis fort und schloss ihr Hochschulstudium als Konzertpianistin 2005 ab. Neben ihrer solistischen Ausbildung erweiterte sie ihr musikalisches Spektrum in den Fächern Kammermusik bei Prof. Eduard Brunner und Liedbegleitung - unter anderem bei Prof. Irwin Gage. Während ihres Studiums und bei Wettbewerben erhielt Neslihan Schmidt zahlreiche Auszeichnungen für ihre Gestaltungskraft und Stilsicherheit, so wurde ihr unter anderem der erste Preis des renommierten C.R.R Wettbewerb in Istanbul verliehen. Seit 1999 gibt sie regelmäßig Konzerte in Deutschland und in der Türkei. Charakteristisch für ihre künstlerische Arbeit ist das Interesse für viele Genres der Musik, dementsprechend erstreckt sich ihr Repertoire von der Sololiteratur über Kammermusik und Liedbegleitung bis in die Musik der Moderne. Seit 2006 lebt und arbeitet Neslihan Schmidt in Berlin.


DR. ANDRZEJ ANCYGIER is a climate policy analyst at Climate Analytics, mainly focusing on the impact of the energy policy on the CO2 emissions in different countries. He also looks at the potential to reduce the emissions by moving towards low-carbon energy sources in different countries. Andrzej has previously worked for Hertie School of Governance and Environmental Policy Research Center where he has been dealing with the European energy and climate policy. His main focus was on the challenges of the transition towards low-carbon economy in the Eastern European countries, especially Poland. Andrzej has also looked into the dynamics shaping Polish-German cooperation in the area of energy and climate and has written a number of articles dealing with the transformation towards low carbon economy in different countries and regions, i.e. China and the USA. He has also been teaching about the EU environmental policy at the Berlin subsidiary of the New York University and global challenges at the FU Summer and Winter University (FUBiS). Andrzej holds a Masters in international relations from the University of Wroclaw and a PhD in social sciences from the Free University in Berlin


​Andrzej Ancygier ist ein Experte für Energie und Klimapolitik bei Climate Analytics gGmbH. Dort spezialisiert er sich im Bereich der europäischen Energiepolitik mit den Schwerpunkten auf erneuerbare Energien und Klimapolitik. Als Politikwissenschaftler konzentriert er sich auf europäische Energie- und Klimapolitik und die Klimawende. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt seiner Arbeit ist die Analyse der Auswirkungen der Energiepolitik verschiedener Länder auf deren CO2-Emissionen, sowie Emissionsreduktionspotentiale durch die Nutzung kohlenstoffarmer Energieträger ausbaut. Ancygier unterrichtet auch zum Thema globale Umweltbewegungen an der New York University und zum Thema europäische Umweltpolitik an der Freien Universität in Berlin.