By |

 ESME Singers and Rheinland-Pfalz International Choir Perform Together Again

By Emily Burnell Petrou

In what we hope will become an annual event, the ESME Singers and the Rheinland-Pfalz International Choir performed together in their second joint concert on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in the light-filled Lutherkirche in Kaiserslautern. Last April, the RPIC came to Munich, and this year we returned the favor; our entire choir was not able to participate, but 22 of us managed to make it up north for the adventure. The RPIC is led by ESME’s former longtime choir conductor, Eric Weddle, and he, along with their highly efficient choral manager and soprano Gosia Schulze, and ESME’s own organizer extraordinaire and alto Annie Janssen, have worked hard to make these concerts happen. Thank you, Eric, Gosia and Annie!

The concert opened at 18:30 on the dot with both choirs enthusiastically taking on Rossini’s popular opera chorus, “Il Carnevale di Venezia”, setting the mood for a cheerful evening of choral entertainment. The audience was delighted and ready for more!

Then it was time for ESME to take the stage on their own, led by our multi-tasking pianist Léa Vernisse taking on the conducting role (as well as accompaniment on several concert pieces). Our set featured three a cappella selections recently performed in our Spring Showcase: Monteverdi’s crisp “Cantate Domino”, Billy Joel’s soulful “And So It Goes”, and a rousing traditional spiritual, “I Can Tell the World.” This was then followed by the Rheinland-Pfalz International Choir presenting the lilting and precise “Se Ben Vedi O Vita Mia” by Giovanni Gastoldi, another lovely “Cantate Domino” (this time by Karl Jenkins), Frank Ticheli’s ethereal “Earth Song”, a talented ensemble (including Eric Weddle) performing an Eagles song, “Seven Bridges Road”, and finally, perfect for the gorgeous spring weather outside, the whole RPIC choir was back to thrill us with Beatles classic “Here Comes the Sun”.

Another ensemble of two trios then formed a sextet of “wise women”; one from ESME (who also performed this in our recent Spring Showcase) and the other from RPIC, bewitching the audience with the mysterious tale of “The Magpie”. Following that, the two choirs gathered together once again for more joint pieces under Eric Weddle’s steady hand: the rollicking sea shanty “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor”, the well known spiritual “Elijah Rock”, and finally, the grand finale: a stirring version of the beloved Simon and Garfunkel hit, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. An encore capped off the evening with a personal favorite of both choirs, the lively South African “second national anthem”, “Tshotsholoza”, always a crowd pleaser (and mighty fun to sing as well!). 

The two choirs then happily headed out to dinner to celebrate another successful concert, mixing and mingling at the tables, making new friends, and – of course – serenading the restaurant with a spirited reprise of “Tshotsholoza” (a long-standing after-party tradition).

Plans are already underway for a joint weekend away next Spring in our usual venue at the Humboldt-Institut in Bad Schüssenried. This will give us all a chance to have more rehearsal time with both conductors together, something we have yet to experience with our joint concerts, as Eric was unable to attend last year’s, and the same went for ESME’s conductor Linda Oppermann this time around. Watch this space for more information on our two choirs collaborating together to make a joyful noise!

And don’t forget to keep your eyes out for our “Hot Hot Hot” summer concert, with all three ESME ensembles (Orchestra, Singers, and Resident Alien Big Band) at 6 PM on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at the Trudering Kulturzentrum.

Tickets are already available, so book now at https://esme-ev.de/tickets/

By |

Well, it’s happened again – our ESME Winter Concert, “A Very Wicked Christmas”, sold out over three weeks before the concert date! This means that there will be no evening box office. However, you can mark your calendars for a few more upcoming events: our Resident Alien Big Band will be putting on their Christmas show at Lost Weekend in Schwabing on Thursday, December 18 at 8 p.m. (doors opening at 7 p.m.), so please come and join the festive fun! And it’s never too early to save the date for next year’s (also popular) ESME Spring Showcase, which features not only our Singers, but various groups put together from all three of our ensembles, definitely the most unique of all of our concerts. That’ll take place on Saturday, 25 April 2026 at the usual Einstein Kultur, with the time TBD. As always, watch this space (as well as our Facebook and Instagram) for all updates. If you are interested in subscribing to our newsletter, you can do so here.

We’re looking forward to seeing you lucky (and organized!) ticket holders soon at the Munich Künstlerhaus for our winter concert! Thanks for your enduring support.

By |

We’ve long had a friendly relationship with another English-speaking performance company in Munich – the Entity Theatre, and tickets for Entity’s upcoming production of Arms and the Man are on sale now! Click here to get yours: https://www.muenchenticket.de/event/entity-theater-arms-and-the-man-35257/

Dates and times: 

November 12-15, 19:30

November 16, 17:30

Location: Pepper Theater, Thomas-Dehler-Str. 12, 81737 München (U5/7/8 Neuperlach Zentrum)

Celebrating 100 years since George Bernard Shaw’s Nobel Prize win, Entity Theatre presents Arms and the Man – his witty skewering of war heroes and romantic ideals. 

Set in turn-of-the-century Bulgaria, young Raina Petkoff’s life is turned upside down by the appearance of a mysterious Serbian soldier seeking refuge in her bedroom. Will this mysterious man be the war hero she has been dreaming of? Or is he an enemy who faced her fiancé across the lines of battle? When both Raina’s fiancé and this mysterious man come back from the war, complications are sure to ensue. But beware: nothing is what it seems at the pen of GB Shaw…

By |

It seems like we just started rehearsals, but already the tickets for our ESME Winter Concert are available for sale! Under the skilled batons of conductors Orhan Ahiskal, Julia Chalfin and Davy Kazan, our ESME Orchestra, ESME Singers and Resident Alien Big Band are working hard to put on another popular festive holiday show for you on Saturday, 13 December at 5 pm, in the beautiful and historic concert hall at the conveniently located Münchner Künstlerhaus, so please book your tickets soon, because this popular annual concert is renowned for selling out!

By |

by Emily Burnell Petrou

Oh, what a night! Our own Resident Alien Big Band, under the steady hand of bandleader Davy Kazan, performed their very first Big Band Karaoke event at the grand opening of the Kultur Neue Ziegelei in Bogenhausen on the evening of Saturday, 17 October, to an enthusiastic crowd of spectators and brave participants. Those who signed up – and there were many locals from the neighborhood, not just our confident ESME Singers – had to choose a song from the RABB playlist, and were supported (if needed) on the side by RABB singers Elaine Kazan, Eduardo Alfonso de la Fuente and Caro Kelley, who also served as emcee. All three of these pros also took the stage for a number, dazzling the merry crowd, who quickly filled the dance floor. Special thanks go to our former Einstein Kultur organizer, Vivian Peruth, for making this whole gig possible in the first place, and it was such a smashing success that plans are now underway for a repeat performance next spring at the same venue, on the evening of Saturday, 7 March, 2026, from 19:30 – 22:00, so mark your calendars now and watch this space for further details next year. You can see our Resident Alien Big Band take the stage once again, along with the ESME Orchestra and Singers, for our popular winter concert on Saturday, 13 December at 5 pm at the Munich Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz, and TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE! Hope to see you all there!

By |

By Emily Burnell Petrou

On a lovely autumn Saturday in mid-October, our generous orchestra conductor, Orhan Ahıskal, once again offered ESME members a chance to take one of his “Hit the Road” guided tours in the musically historic city of Salzburg, and easy day trip for Münchners. 

We all met at the Munich Hauptbahnhof to board the 9:55 train and managed to find seats close to each other for socializing on the trip down. Once in Salzburg, we strolled in the mild sunshine to the bustling Altstadt, stopping first at a bakery to pick up snacks to fuel our energy for the next three hours. The tour officially began at Mozartplatz, and we continued on to various sites such as the birthplace of the tragic Expressionist poet Georg Trakl, who worked closely with composer Anton Webern, a quick peek into the Cafe Tomaselli (Mozart’s favorite coffee house – we also learned about the history of coffee coming to Vienna!), the magnificent baroque Franciscan Church, with its significant connection to Josef Haydn’s lesser known composer brother Michael (both contemporaries and friends of Salzburg’s favorite son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), the beautiful St. Peter’s cemetery, which includes the catacombs and grave containing both Michael Haydn and Mozart’s older sister, fellow musical child prodigy Marianne, and of course Mozart’s famous birthplace, which is also a museum dedicated to this genius of a composer. The tour ended with us listening to the cast of the beloved 1965 film “The Sound of Music” singing “Do-Re-Mi”, while we wandered around the scenic Mirabell Garden, one of the many famous Salzburg locales where filming took place. Throughout the entire tour, Orhan played us important musical pieces to highlight the many stories, which added to the richness of the history we were drinking in together; a truly profound and moving way to experience the lore we learned!

Afterwards, a jolly group of us joined Orhan for hot drinks at the elegant café housed in the Mozart family’s residence. A very fun and informative day all around, and we relished both the educational journey and the enjoyable companionship (and we just may have recruited a new soprano for our choir in the process, a singing pupil of Orhan’s talented wife – fingers crossed!). We feel very fortunate to have Orhan as part of the ESME family, to share his heartfelt passion and enthusiasm for music and the arts. Thanks again, Orhan, for taking the time out of your busy schedule for this!

Orhan is planning on conducting another one of these Salzburg tours on Sunday, November 16, so please mark your calendars and contact him if you are interested. It is well worth your time if you are a lover of cultural history.

In the meantime, our three ensembles – the ESME Orchestra and Singers, and the Resident Alien Band – continue to rehearse weekly to prepare for our upcoming ESME winter concert, “A Very Wicked Christmas”, which will take place on the evening of Saturday, December 13, at the stunning Munich Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz. Bookmark this space for further details, or better yet, subscribe to this blog!

(Speaking of marking your calendars, our Resident Alien Big Band will be putting on their very first Big Band Karaoke event on Friday, October 17, with doors opening at 7 pm at the Kultur Neue Ziegelei in Bogenhausen. This is bound to be an absolute blast and your chance to feel like a star, so show up early and choose your song from their playlist. Or just come along to watch and enjoy the spectacle!)