November 2003 - Nr. 11
K-W Liederabend
– German Festival –
by Herwig Wandschneider
The German Festival which ran for 26 days and closed Saturday, October 25th with the Gala Ball at the Royal York in Toronto, shared a number of events with Kitchener-Waterloo. Part of K-W’s contribution to the Festival, held in K-W, were a Centre-in-the-Square Concert conducted by Martin Fischer-Dieskau, German Pioneers Day celebrations at Kitchener’s City Hall, and a Liederabend held at Wilfrid Laurier’s Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.
![Organizers and performers [photo: Herwig Wandschneider]](311c-HW-Lieder02.jpg)
The Liederabend was organized by Tony Bergmeier, President of the National German-Canadian Congress in cooperation with the other members of the Festival Steering Committee.
K-W was very fortunate to have nine WLU students selected to participate in the 2003 European Music-fest in Stuttgart, Germany, a forum for international participation in an international choir and orchestra. These students studied under Dr. Victor Martens WLU Voice Programme, which he established in 1969.
Dr Martens enjoyed a singing career in concert and oratorio in Canada and Europe. He coordinated the remarkable performance of the nine students in conjunction with coach Beth Ann de Sousa, who accompanied the singers on the piano. Ann de Souza frequently performs on the keyboard with the K-W symphony and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble.
There
was no question that the audience enjoyed an exceptional performance of
superbly trained Master Voices, either singing Schubert, Brahms, Schumann,
Richard Strauss, or Alban Berg - all in German and with a full range of
voices from bass-baritone to sopranos.
For those, who missed this performance, they will not likely find again such a well selected programme with such outstanding talent. It was a most enjoyable evening and each performer fully deserved the applause and recognition. What is more, it provided an excellent forum for the German Festival, reflecting the cultural breadth of the German community.
