By David Elliott
John Keats wrote “Where are the songs of spring?”. Fans of ESME know the answer lies in the annual ESME Spring Showcase in Haidhausen!
In back-to-back concerts on Saturday 25th April, ESME’s singers and instrumentalists offered up a truly diverse program of music that spanned centuries, continents, languages, and genres.
Over the years, the Spring Showcase has become a firm favorite with both audiences and performers. Hosted by the choir, it offers an opportunity for small ensembles of self-lead groups to perform soloistic pieces together in the more intimate setting of a Halle at Einstein Kultur.
The program opened with three pieces from the 50-strong ESME choir, beginning with a version of the fruity Turkish folk song Suda Balık Oynuyor. Arranged by Erdal Tuğcular, it’s a short tale of unrequited love and intense passion, and was propelled along by the singers with appropriate ardency and a masterly handling of Turkish pronunciation.
The pace slowed as the choir took us across the wide Missouri in a beautiful rendition of the American folk song Oh, Shenandoah! Conductor Julia Chalfin conjured up the mystique and longing of the piece from a choir that captured the emotion with control and precision.
Gears switched again for a challenging composition by Venezuelan Alberto Grau; Kasar mie la Gaji translates to “The Earth is Tired”. The choir did a marvelous job of maneuvering through the tricky time signature changes and evolving dissonance to deliver an intensely emotional appeal to respect our planet.
As the choir filed off stage, performers of the nine ensemble pieces that made up the centrepiece of the concert were waiting in the wings. First on stage to deliver a delightfully vernal rendition of the fourth of François Devienne’s 46 Trios were Karen Redinger Emmendorfer, Alissa Wiengarten, and Liselotte Wolters. Lulling the audience into a 19th century trance, this proved the perfect overture for Thomas Padel singing Après un rêve by Fauré. Accompanied by fellow French national Léa Vernisse on piano, their performance of this romantic mélodie moved me to tears.
After the passion of ‘waking from a dream’, tenor Pavel Destitov ensured we were fully awake with two rousing folk songs in his native Bulgarian. “Goritse sitna, zelena” and “Mamo hariji mi” were cries for acknowledgement that resounded around the hall. He was followed by a blissful rendition of Hozier’s Cherry Wine from choir members Katie LaClair and Gustav Finley, who also played guitar. It was then time for a bit of comic theatre. Annie Janssen set the scene for Thomas Padel and Luis de la Osa de la Rosa Lyons to perform Agony from Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Accompanied again by Léa on piano, the two princes duelled over their trials of love with sublime histrionics.
Annie was back on stage for the sixth ensemble number, the Duke Ellington jazz delicacy Do Nothin’‘Till You Hear From Me. Band members Christian Gegg, Alister Clarke, and Thomas Eingartner had the audience tapping their feet as Annie proved she can effortlessly overshadow Ella Fitzgerald.
There was rapturous applause too for the septet of basses and tenors who took us to the Scottish Highlands with the spirited Jonathan Quick arrangement of The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond. Thomas and Luis were joined by Stefano Ceolin, Tom Flower, Federico Jenichen, Felix Auld, and Christian Popp and their harmonies were simply sublime. I had goosebumps throughout.
From Scotland, it was off to Argentina, as the seven singers continued their stellar acapella performance with a deliciously rhythmic Carnavalito, replete with clever vocal and manual percussion. It doesn’t get better than this!
It was back to jazz for a colorful conclusion to the ensemble section, as Ismael Weber, Christian Gegg, Alister Clarke, Isabella Shrimpton,Chris Roth, Thomas Eingartner, and Leopold Cario from the ESME Orchestra and Resident Alien Big Band performed the James Scott piece Frog Legs Rag. (These RABB members were also featured as a jazz band in Entity Theatre’s most recent play Hay Fever, continuing years of cooperation between our organizations.)
The choir returned for their second set with maracas at the ready. They began with the energetic Brazilian folk song Sambalelê before dropping the tempo for Stephen Paulus’ uplifting choral classic The Road Home, in which soloists Hanna Algora, Katie LaClair, and Helen Wedekind added a magnificent top line. ESME’s busy program of international music was drawing to a close, but there was one more surprise in store: Baba Yetu – a Swahili rendition of the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ by Christopher Tin. With stand-out solo performances from Thomas Padel and Carly Russel, percussion from Gustav Finley and Hamdi Tokel, and a stomping beat from the choir themselves, this was a genius way to end an incredible concert.
Where else in Munich could you see 15 pieces of music in 8 different languages over 80 minutes – and for a mere €16?
The choir left the stage to rapturous applause. It was clear they hadn’t anticipated the calls of “Zugabe!”, for they had to hastily reassemble on stage for Julia Chalfin to lead them in an encore performance of Sambalelê. The cheering of the sell-out crowd said it all; I’ve seen Bayern Munich victories garner less passion.
This was another indication that ESME’s choir and musicians continue to go from strength to strength. As I left Einstein Kultur, members of the audience were still humming Baba Yetu and I felt sheer delight for the performers – and indeed all the people that work so hard to make concerts like this happen.
If you missed the Spring Showcase, be sure to avoid disappointment by subscribing to our newsletter to have the ticket link for our next show sent to you! And do book early – tickets sell out fast! Our next show is Saturday July 5 in Trudering.