Vienna (AT), Muth - Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben

Premiere of Sing My Soul

I arrived in Vienna from Den Haag, where I’m currently doing my master, a couple of days before our premiere of Sing My Soul and I was very much looking forward to rehearsing and playing our Händel programme with Tobias Faulhammer on guitar, Gregor Aufmesser on bass and Dominik Fuss on trumpet and flugelhorn. We rehearsed in mathias rüegg’s spacious living room filled with lots of green plants and gave these 21 arias and songs written by Georg Friedrich Händel and arranged by mathias rüegg last final touches. At some point, after rehearsing and recording and rehearsing again, the need to play live and share music with an audience becomes stronger and stronger, otherwise all the songs start to feel stuck and somehow lost in space, or lost in the living room at Westbahnstraße : ). And I think we were getting pretty close to that moment and so we all couldn’t wait to finally share our album Sing My Soul live at Muth. The past year has been an intense musical journey within the world of Händel’s music and I think we all gained a lot through these extraordinary songs of Händel and through the challenging and colourful arrangements of mathias. It is such a blessing that after the canceled premiere in Halle and in Vienna in June – thanks to Austrian Musikfonds and the Swiss art foundation Pro Helvetia - we were able to record all of these songs and finally get to play all of them live: our premiere of Sing My Soul took place at the one and onle Muth! Thank you to Muth – concert hall of the Wiener Sängerknaben – and especially to Elke Hesse for creating this opportunity for us and for making live music possible during these challenging and uncertain times. Thank you to the whole team at Muth - they even repaired my bass flute - stand!!!As always Thomas Egger on sound was with us, taking wonderful care of our sound clouds. To all of us this night was truly inspiring and meaningful – oh how liberating it felt to play and sing - especially to a wonderful audience like this... .Thank you to each and everyone who came out supporting live music and supporting us, sharing this evening with us. I have many favorite songs in this program, but that night I especially enjoyed the trinity of Händel's great ballads Piangerò la sorte mia, Lascia ch'io pianga and Ombra Mai Fu. Oh but also Quand On Suit - our love-tango : ) and Sans Y Penser I could play over and over. Thanks once more to Tobi, Dominik and Greg for bringing these arrangements to life! Music needs space, is meant to be played, meant to be heard and meant to be shared and I can only hope that concert halls and stages around the world will continue to open their doors.

Our Händel-Album ist officially out on Lotus Records (thank you Harald Tautscher!!!) and ready to be ordered, listened to and shared. After a premiere I always feel tired and sentimental, hoping for many live opportunities to come. And in this sentimental mood I hope to see you all again soon. I can’t wait for our next concert at Muth with our beloved Winter’s Journey by Franz Schubert on December 2nd. That reminds me: The journey is the destination : ).

Yours truly, Lia