i just finished uploading some photos of recent concert tours with the choir.

the first one (in the end of october) led us to eisenstadt [G] provincial capital of burgenland and the city where joseph haydn lived/worked between 1760 and 1790.
there were concerts in eisenstadt’s haydn-church, heiligenkreuz collegiate church, st. martin and pinkafeld.
i joined in a day late, so i went there by train, and had a few hours of layover in vienna [G] before my next train would get me to eisenstadt.

on the second tour (last weekend) we visited steyr [G], kirchberg, stockerau, and lilienfeld.

i used to think innsbruck is a fairly small city. now that i’ve seen more cities in the eastern parts of austria, it turns out i was wrong (at least, in the austrian scale).

something funny: our …food providers on all the different locations didn’t know what we were getting elsewhere. the result: we ended up having wiener schnitzel three times in a row.
on the way back to tirol, we were making jokes about having schnitzel for dinner, and i wasn’t really surprised when i heard “are you hungry? we saved you some schnitzel from lunch!” when i arrived at home.
i really didn’t even mind. :-)

[view photos: vienna layover]
[view photos: concert tour to eisenstadt]
[view photos: concert tour to steyr]

grammofox is a relatively young austrian band with a unique repertoire: they’ve specialised in german songs from the 1920s.
song titles (and rough translations) include “mein papagei frisst keine harten eier” (my parrot doesn’t eat bioled eggs), “wo sind deine haare, august?” (where are your hairs, august?) and “die braut vom alexander, die geht so auseinander” (alexander’s bride keeps getting bigger)…

there are a few sound samples on their website, and they said a CD is in production as well.

there are a few dates coming up which (the austrian/innsbruckian part of) you might be interested in:

october 23, i’ll be showing some photos of my round-the-world-trip (from earlier this year). i’s a public blattform presentation, so it’s going to be a little more biological than usual…

november 29, the choir will perform carmina burana by carl orff in innsbruck

december 9 and 10, we will also perform j.s. bach’s christmas oratorio BWV 248 in telfs.

it took a rehearsal weekend and full-time-hearing the carmina for me to start to actually like it. by now, i can say i’m enjoying it.
contrary, i just loved the bach-coloraturas from the beginning, and i’m really looking forward to take part in that concert.

new photos are online!

first of all, some more bat photos: it’s the first time i’ve …”hosted” a noctule bat (nyctalus noctula)- a good opportunity to take photos of the second largest bat species in austria…
apart from that, albuin (a well-travelled parti-coloured bat, vespertilio murinus) is a photogenic bat, too.

[view photos: noctule and parti-coloured bats]

and then, there’s a whole bunch of photos of people, that didn’t really fit anywhere else…
includes photos of our ensemble on good friday, my little brother in action, artist friends and their work, bear hunters, and today’s and yesterday’s ulfissimo choir rehearsals in baumkirchen.
i also made a short video when we rehearsed an arrangement of “mercy” by joe zawinul, which i think doesn’t sound too bad…

[view photos: random people photos]

through eric’s journal, i stumbled upon the stanfordharmonics.
and listening to their sound samples – try “radio (the corrs)” – makes me want to start my own a capella choir.
my problem is that in the perfect ensemble, i don’t really see a spot for myself…
 

can’t wait until the CDs i ordered get here!

last september, i received the sheet music for the choir song “bawo, thixo somandla” from a friend.
i had started looking for them (not very actively, though) over two years before, when i heard a choir perform african choir pieces…

in case you’re looking for a recording of that song, here are two sound samples i was able to find on the net:

bawo thixo somandla (mp3) by the johannesburg methodist choir – page

bawo tixo somandla (wav) by umoja – page, now unavailable

however, i recommend getting the recording of the soweto songsters, it’s the best version i could find.

 
[related post: bawo thixo somandla background information]

[lyrics quote of the day]
Mit Würd’ und Hoheit angetan,
Mit Schönheit, Stärk’ und Mut begabt,
Gen Himmel aufgerichtet, steht der Mensch,
Ein Mann und König der Natur.
from: the creation – joseph haydn (#24, aria)