Feldkirchen, Amthof "A Winter's Journey"
Feb. 3, 2017, 8 p.m.
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, feeling like 16 again being on a school trip : ). Mr T (Thomas Egger), Hans, Ingrid and Mario were traveling together by car and we all got to the hotel and venue round four o’ clock. Feldkirchen is a cute little town in Carinthia and the venue „Amthof“ was just five min walking distance from our hotel. Hans had already played there three times and he told us that the audience in Feldkirchen is very charming, and as it turned out later: Hans was absolutely right! Eckart Senitza, the wonderful organizer of these concerts at Amthof took care of us in every way, and I really have to emphasize, what a great job he is doing to make an evening like this possible! We felt so very welcome, had an incredible time on stage and an amazing dinner after our concert...thank you Eckart Senitza for inviting us and letting us be a part! I‘m really having a hard time saying something about our sound check because when you work with Mr T, there is really not much of a sound check going on : ), we get there, rehearse for a while, get to know the sound and feeling of the venue and that‘s about it. Thanks Mr T : ) for spoiling us with your sound checks! Playing Schuberts Winter Journey is always something special. For me, the crazy part about these magical songs is, that the longer I sing them, the more challenging they‘ve become. They always find a new way to surprise me and everytime demanding all you got. To share this experience with an audience like in Feldkirchen is truly inspiring. They were with us from the very first bars and they stayed with us throughout our whole journey. Thank you for coming out and for listening so closely! What a pleasure to play for you! On top of this I have to admit, that singing in a room with this kind of acoustics is extremely comfortable, this kind of reverb makes you feel like even your softest sounds keep going straight to the back of the room and linger in the air for at least 3 sec : )! I loved Marios diverse Soli which all tell a different story and especially I loved this one note in my favourite song „Erstarrung“ that kept on flying over me : ) Hans, what a solo in „Auf dem Flusse“, ohyesss! And what would be our journey without the extraordinary percussions so full of colours of Ingridiii Oberkanins! Oh and of course, the arranger and pianist surprised us with some faster tempos that we found ourselves enjoying and mathias, what a beautiful solo in „Rast“. As I already said, we really enjoyed our time playing : )!
While we were packing and getting our things we started a hot discussion about music and politics and politics and music...it all started with the horrifying news that someone (who I‘m not gonna mention by name!!) is going to play at the Musikverein!!! maybe you know who I mean; and to be frank, I was truly shocked and still can‘t believe it...Eckart calmed us down by reminding us to get ready for our dinner : )! He invited us to a great fish restaurant, where a lovely hostess served us with the most delicious food! I think I had the best trout I‘ve had in years! Happy and tired we got back to our hotel and hugged goodbye and goodnight.
The next morning the sun was shining, it really felt like the first day of spring. Mathias and I walked through the town, enjoying the sunlight on our backs. We stopped at a little market, where we met some of you from last night : ) and we sat down on the edge of the fountain holding our faces towards the sun. Just in time we hurried back to the trainstation, got on our train while trying to keep the sun rays as a souvenir for you must believe in spring : )!
Yours Lia
