--- title: Lulu description: How Sarth Calhoun and Lou Reed made music for Robert Wilson's 2011 Berliner Ensemble Lulu, then took the material to Metallica in San Francisco. url: https://www.sarth.net/conspiracies/lulu/ facet: dream credit: Sarth Calhoun co-wrote the score for Robert Wilson’s *Lulu* with Lou Reed and directed its rehearsals at the Berliner Ensemble, 2011. On the Lou Reed and Metallica album he composed and performed electronics; “Junior Dad” grew from his Kyma session with Rob Wasserman at Reed’s apartment. author: Sarth Calhoun --- [Conspiracies](/conspiracies/) / Lulu Conspiracy · Dream # *Lulu* *Lulu* is an album by [Lou Reed](/conspirators/lou-reed/) and [Metallica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica), released on October 31, 2011. Its songs began as the score Lou Reed and I wrote for [Robert Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wilson_(director))’s staging of [Frank Wedekind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wedekind)’s Lulu plays, which premiered at the [Berliner Ensemble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Ensemble) on April 12, 2011. I co-wrote the theater score, directed its rehearsals in Berlin, and played electronics on the album. ![Sarth Calhoun playing a Haken Continuum Fingerboard.](/images/continuum.jpg) Sarth Calhoun at the Continuum. > long drones on cello and an electronic instrument, the Continuum, played by Reed and Sarth Calhoun, a member of Reed’s band. (Calhoun also appears on *Lulu*.) > > David Fricke on the original tapes, [Rolling Stone, September 30, 2011](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/when-metallica-met-lou-reed-78019/) ## Go over to Lou’s house I got a call from Lou one day to go over to his house and make some “interstitial” music for a theater production. [Robert Wilson](/conspirators/robert-wilson/) was staging *Lulu* with the Berliner Ensemble. This turned into co-writing 8 more songs with Lou Reed. Hells yeah. The tapes we made before Berlin were Lou’s guitar, long cello drones and Continuum, which is what David Fricke describes in *Rolling Stone*. This was before [Metallica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica). ## Berlin without Lou Lou was not in Berlin for the rehearsals. I went, and directed the music with the theater’s band. The band was Stefan Rager on drums and musical direction; Ulrich Maiß on keyboards and cello; [Dominic Bouffard](/conspirators/dominic-bouffard/) on guitar; Friedrich Paravicini on bugle, cello, and harmonica; Andreas Walter on bass; and Joe Bauer on sound effects. Later programs list Ulf Borgwardt and Ofer Wetzler in the keyboard/cello and bass chairs. *Lulu* premiered at the Berliner Ensemble on April 12, 2011 and stayed in its repertoire through 2014, with guest runs in Paris, Spoleto, and São Paulo. > Composer/performer Sarth Calhoun is directing rehearsals of Lou Reed’s music for Frank Wedekind’s *Lulu* directed by Robert Wilson at the Berliner Ensemble theater in Berlin. The score features Kyma processing, Continuum/Kyma playing, and dual Continuum fingerboard improvisations accompanied by a live string section. > > [Symbolic Sound, April 2011](https://news.symbolicsound.com/2011/04/lulu-at-the-berliner-ensemble-theater/) > the concept was abandoned late in the game, when Lou heard metal riffs Calhoun had added to the more ambient work they’d created for Robert Wilson’s stagings of Wedekind’s plays. > > Jason P. Woodbury, [Stereogum, 2021](https://stereogum.com/2165325/lulu-lou-reed-metallica/reviews/the-anniversary) ## Then Metallica After I got back from Berlin, we took the project to San Francisco and recorded it with [Metallica](/conspirators/metallica/). What a blast. They completely reinterpreted all the stuff, of course. They were awesome. Of course. The first live performances of the material were in November 2011: *Later... with Jools Holland* in London, *Taratata* in Paris, and five songs in Cologne. I was on stage for those. The Wire wrote that against all the odds, ‘Lulu’ functions as the ultimate realisation of Reed’s aesthetic of *Metal Machine Music*: cruel, vulgar, half in love with power and pain but with a bruised, beating heart at its centre. I kept that line on my old site. [Robert Wilson’s production](https://robertwilson.com/lulu) premiered April 12, 2011. The [Festival d’Automne program](https://www.festival-automne.com/fr/edition-2011/berliner-ensemble-lou-reed-robert-wilson-lulu) documents the live ensemble; [David Fricke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fricke) documented the earlier Continuum-and-cello tapes in [*Rolling Stone*](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/when-metallica-met-lou-reed-78019/). My account is from the Lulu page of my old WordPress site, and the November 2011 shows from my posts there. ## The record [Embedded player](https://embed.music.apple.com/us/album/lulu/467890760) The record: Released October 31, 2011, by Lou Reed and Metallica. Ten songs; the last is [“Junior Dad”](/conspiracies/junior-dad/). On [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/lulu/467890760) and [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/3201257-Lou-Reed-Metallica-Lulu). The credit: Sarth Calhoun co-wrote the score for Robert Wilson’s *Lulu* with Lou Reed and directed its rehearsals at the Berliner Ensemble, 2011. On the Lou Reed and Metallica album he composed and performed electronics; “Junior Dad” grew from his Kyma session with Rob Wasserman at Reed’s apartment.