It was a busy day, yesterday. I was deep in the 19th century, and Paul in puppet-land, until three pm, and then we started…
First, a tram to
Eberswalder Strasse, to the Milchhof Pavilion, where an exhibition entitled
‘Anonyme Zeichner’ was on display, and our friends Johannes and Luise both had
items hung. An interesting scheme – young artists’ drawings, hung without a
name attached, 150 euros any one – I must say if I were furnishing a house I
could have bought a few. Of course, the one we both liked best just happened to
be Johannes’s ….
Then round the
corner to a comfy caff, where we were joined by a merry band of like-minded
youngsters (we worked out that any three added together were still younger than I!) and a bowl of
sweet-potato soup, before making for the U2 and Nollendorfplatz.
Yes, my old
stamping ground! The place to which we were going was a chic little bar, just
round the corner from my old flat (though it wasn’t there in my day), called –
of course – Sally Bowles – in honour of the fictional heroine who once
inhabited the street. The occasion was an ‘open mic’ evening hosted by the
American Vocal Academy, two young US music teachers, Brady Swenson and Travis
Shaw. No, I wasn’t going to come out of retirement, and give my ‘Volga Boat
Song’, but Paul was being the orchestra and I like to see what’s going on …
The point of this
sort of showcase evening, as I see it, is to give students and beginners the
opportunity of performing in front of an audience, and established
professionals a chance to try out new material. Well, this one certainly did
the first, and partially did the second.
Margarita, an accomplished vocalist from Leipzig gave us ‘Maybe, This
Time’ and ‘Cabaret’, scarcely ‘new material’. More like ‘ridden to death’. The
resuscitated ‘Nature Boy’ was less predictable.
The other
professionals were more original: Petter gave us the Benny/Björn ‘Stanna’ from Kristina fran Duvemala in a ringing
baritone, and Riccardo topped a delightful Italian song with a virtuoso
performance of the Tesori/Scanlan The
Girl (Man) in 14G. Dany sang a song called ‘Sex on Fire’ which I would
categorise as ‘noisy’ and scarcely material for a small venue.
The students –
five of them – were all girls, of various shapes and styles but having in
common a staunch upper chest voice. I’m afraid that it’s the (old?) fashion
nowadays. I didn’t hear a head voice or even a mista voce all night. The five
did well, taking into consideration nerves and inexperience, which affected
some more than others, but once again song choice weighed large.
The most finished
performance came hand in hand with the sweetest song: Nina’s delivery of the
Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer ‘Skylark’. Nina probably has the least
voluminous voice of the five, but she knows how to use it, and how to treat a
lyric: result, my favourite moment of the night.
There was much
delicacy, too, in the performance of ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’, by tall,
athletic 16 year-old, Vivienne. She sang three songs, and showed that she knows
that singing is more than making a loud noise. Much promise, there. Especially
if she can sing regular soprano as well.
Anissa and
Rebecca-Jane were the most endearingly nervous, and the nerves stole Anissa’s
bottom register and Rebecca’s pitch control. But both have a nice stage
presence, and a bit of that all-important ‘fun’ in them, and experience will do
the rest. And the right choice of song. Fame
never did anything for anyone and those wretched interchangeable Wildhorn
ballads are the curse of Germany.
Patrizia was the
final girl, and she undoubtedly has the strongest voice of all. Now she needs
to build on that gift, and find out about singing: the light and shade of
interpretation. I’m sure she will.
The concert ended
with a fine ‘So in Love’ by Petter (I’m not sure I approve the interpolated
high A flat!), and we lingered long thereafter … Sally Bowles’s is a delightful
spot and the company was first-rate … and when the orchestra had got the blood
back in his fingers, we taxied happily back to Mitte and Humboldthaim …
A grand day,
seeing what the younger generation of artists and musicians are up to. Good
luck to you all.
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