I went to mathias‘ place round noon to pack everything I might need, my flute, notes and my Schumann Songbook : ) ...and just when we were getting ready to print our setlist, mathias noticed that the train we were supposed to take had already left one hour ago without us : ). You might know that mathias loves trains and he always books the train tickets long time in advance to make sure he gets his favourite seats, so you can imagine how surprised I was that missing a train does actually happen even to with Mister rüegg : ). I think it was ...

The Event:
Linz (A), Landestheater, "The Schumann Songbook"

We hadn‘t played Schubert's songs for quite a while and to make sure, our Winter Journey was as fresh as it could be, we had a long and intense Schubert rehearsal the day before. With us on Schubert & Müllers journey for the very first time was amazing Mario Rom on trumpet and flugelhorn. mathias and I hopped on the train in the morning and as always, as soon as I‘m on a train, I can‘t help falling asleep...so time flew by and we got out in Klagenfurt to get on a bus to Feldkirchen ...

The Event:
Feldkirchen (A), Kulturforum, "A Winter's Journey"

Early flight...my alarm woke me at 4:30 and half asleep I got dressed and hurried out into the dark to catch to first metro. If I hadn‘t called mathias at 4:45 he would have overslept!!!I couldn‘t believe it! I have known mathias for 5 years and never ever was he late or had overslept : )! But in only 13 minutes he made it to the metro U3 Neubaugasse and caught the first train just in time, out of breath but just in time : )! We were about to fly off to Bari, the capital of Apulia ...

The Event:
Bari (I), Anche Cinema Royal

OH my, I think I am still out of breath from my morning sprint on that day : )...I forgot my passport and I had to run from trainstation St.Marx back to my place in the 6th district, back to the airport in 70 min!!!I couldn‘t believe it!!! Luckily our flight was 20 min delayed and this was exactly the time I needed to be back for boarding!!!I was so exhausted and relieved and I‘m thinking about getting an ID that fits in my wallet : )! Other than that we had a comfortable journey and plenty of ...

The Event:
Zürich (CH), Exil - The Schumann Songbook

Canzoni per Roberto...and you probably think that we mean Robert Schumann : ) but actually a very different Robert was the reason for our concert in Firenze at the Accademia della Crusca. It was all because of Mister Robert Rüegg. That‘s right! mathias‘ father finished his dissertation about Italian dialects in 1956. And now all these years later, his visionary works were translated and published in Italy: Sulla geografia linguistica dell' italiano parlato/ Franco Cesati Editore, thanks to Sandro Bianconi. Can you imagine? And for this special presentation of his work we were invited to play in honour of ...

The Event:
Florenz (I), Villa Medicea di Castello

It was the day after our premiere at the Porgy, the second time we played our Schumann Songbook in front of an audience and it was the second time we were invited to play in Waidhofen an der Ybbs. It is a beautiful town in Lower Austria with a magnificent castle in the middle of town „Schloss Rothschild“. Thomas Bieber is the artistic director and responsible for the wonderful program they have every year. We were honoured to have the chance to play our Schumann Songbook in the extraordinary „Kristallsaal“ of the castle that I believe has the best acoustics ...

The Event:
Waidhofen an der Ybbs (A), Kristallsaal Schloss Rothschild - The Schumann Songbook

Playing new material for the very first time always brings me to my limits and although there is this is feeling that I can‘t wait to share these new songs and that they feel like secrets, that I cannot hold back any longer, I am more nervous than usual, feeling even more vulnerable and scared. The last few days right before a premiere are so special in many ways : ) rehearsals are incredibly intense and in between you try your best to explain during interviews what it is that you‘re doing and why you‘re doing it : )! I never ...

The Event:
Premiere "The Schumann Songbook", Vienna (A) Porgy & Bess

It probably was the most challenging week I‘ve experienced so far...everything seemed to happen at once...after our concert at Semmering it continued non stop...from our final recording session of Schubert‘s Winter Journey to rehearsals with the incredible Soloists leading up to these two concerts at the Porgy & Bess. I got to the Porgy at around 5:30 pm and I had no idea that I was about to walk down into a steamy hot hot Porgy, „we‘re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave“ !!!It turned out that something was wrong with the ...

The Event:
Wien (A), Porgy & Bess -Songs of the Vienna Art Orchestra & my poet's love

It probably was the most challenging week I‘ve experienced so far...everything seemed to happen at once...after our concert at Semmering it continued non stop...from our final recording session of Schubert‘s Winter Journey to rehearsals with the incredible Soloists leading up to these two concerts at the Porgy & Bess. I got to the Porgy at around 5:30 pm and I had no idea that I was about to walk down into a steamy hot hot Porgy, „we‘re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave“ !!!It turned out that something was wrong with the ...

The Event:
Wien (A), Porgy & Bess - Songs of the Vienna Art Orchestra & Winter Journey

We were part of this year‘s „Kultur.Sommer.Semmering“ and I was very much looking forward to playing Schubert‘s Winter Journey within this wonderful festival directed by Florian Krumpöck and Nina Sengstschmid. You know how much mathias loves trains and so as soon as he has the chance to travel by train, that‘s what he does and I kept him company : ). It takes a little bit longer than an hour to get from Vienna to „Semmering“ and while driving through this incredible landscape I could very much understand why it was chosen to be world cultural ...

The Event:
Semmering (A), Kultursommer 2016 - Winter Journey