Davos (CH), New Year's Concert 2019 - Davos Festival
I got to Oliver‘s home in Baden two days before our New Year Concert in Davos, so that Oliver and I would have enough time for rehearsals, playing table tennis and the Beatles : ). On the last day of the year we had a good and intense run-through in the morning and then we went straight to Davos, which gave us enough time to listen to the „Beatlothek“ - a radio show of the SRF in which Oli was a guest host about his favourite band in the world: The Beatles . I knew that Oli was a true Beatles Fan but I had no idea that he knows absolutey everything there is to know about them, their albums and their stories. If you ever have a question about the Beatles, I suggest you call or write Oli : )! I enjoyed our road trip to Davos very much and in the late afternoon we arrived in snowy Davos. Later that evening Oli and I played a couple of songs from our „The Other Way Around“ in the tiniest and cosiest venue : ) surrounded by his family - what an extraordinary final rehearsal that gave me so much support! I got to spent New Year‘s Eve with Oliver and his beautiful family drinking the best champagne I ever had, eating tasty Chili, playing Jenga and dancing the midnight waltz to Strauss‘ „Donauwalzer“. Thank you so much dear Schnyders for your heart-warming hospitality and for this truly wonderful night! I went to bed not too late as I was already excited and nervous about my very first New Years Concert the next day. Mr Thomas Egger – our sound engineer – came all the way by train carrying my favourite Mic - stand to make sure we sounded our best : ) - he arrived in Davos shortly before midnight and had champagne with the hotelcrew : )! We started our soundcheck round 1 (thank you Anka for the note stand : ) ) and when Oliver and I were playing the first couple of songs of our setlist – mathias rüegg arrived : )! OH yes he came all the way too - to listen to the premiere of his arrangements interpreted by Oli and me : ). Some last adjustments were made and then it was time to get dressed!
Back to the hotel and once more back to the „Kongresszentrum“, our venue! I was so excited to play with Oliver for the very first time on the very first day of the new year : )!
What an honour & what a joy! We started with one of my favourites „Ballad of the Sad Young Men“ by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman followed by „April in Paris“, „My Funny Valentine“ and many, many more all of them appearing in beautiful arrangements by mathias rüegg. The audience was curious and kind from the very start and Oliver and I enjoyed every step, every song : ) of our way. I think Oliver‘s favourite is „Bye, bye Blackbird“. Half-way through Oliver played the extraordinary piece Ballade op.19 by Gabriel Fauré that I had never heard before. Oliver and I finished our journey with „Someday My Prince Will Come“ and our favourite song by Charlie Chaplin – yes you guessed it: „Smile“. It was the very first arrangement that mathias had written for Oliver and me. As an encore we played the one and only „Somewhere Over The Rainbow“ by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg. What a wonderful audience, thank you so much for your open ears and open hearts and for starting 2019 with us! Thank you mathias for arranging these songs for Oliver and me, it is such a pleasure to play and hear them in these different colours. What a great way to start the new year with a premiere, with a new beginning!
And last but not least - thank you dear Oliver for trusting me with your first concert within the Davos Festival, for giving me this opportunity and for being my friend – TO NEW BEGINNINGS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The next morning I bought quite a few big Rivella bottles for my boyfriend to smuggle them back home and round 10:06 : ) Thomas, mathias and I were back on the train through winter wonderland. When we were driving through Schiers (mathias' hometown) the train suddenly stopped and waited for 10 min without any apparent reason...so we missed our next train from Landquart to Sargans, which would have also meant that we would have missed our train back to Vienna - but then something wonderful happened: the station manager, who we asked for information called the train operator in Sargans to ask if they could wait for us a couple of minutes!!!Can you believe it : ) and they really did!!! Thanks to the kind cooperation of the SBB we got home just in time : )!!!There is no better place to ride trains than Switzerland : )!
Yours Lia
P.S. If you want to flip through the beautiful Davos Festival Magazine including an Interview with Oliver & me written by the one and only Alain Claude Sulzer click HERE!
