[Dixielandjazz] Munich, Germany 7/14/09

[Katie Cavera]

July 14, 2009
Munich, Germany

Guten Tag!  

We just finished our first week here in Munich and it’s been interesting!  First of all we’re performing at the Deutsches Theatre.  Only the original Deutsches Theatre in downtown Munich (which is about a half a block from our residence here) is being renovated right now so we are playing in their temporary home.  The temporary Deutsches Theatre is a large tent on the outskirts of town near the big soccer stadium and about 30 minutes by subway.  I must say for a tent it’s really high tech and nice - unlike anything I’d ever associate with a tent.  But the downside is that since we’re so far out of town, the crowds have been really light.  Still the people that do make it out to see the show are are enthusiastic and really seem to enjoy the production so we’re still having fun performing for them.  

I’m glad we’re still staying in the city center and not out by the tent, because Munich is a a really fascinating city and I’ve been enjoying the experience of living here.  On Sunday we played an early show and David and I rushed back to town so we could see the Munich Philharmonic play.  They were doing a summer outdoor concert in Odeon Platz - one of the big squares in the city center.  When we got off at the subway stop, there were security people directing everyone to the side street exits of the subway so that you couldn’t come up directly in Odeon Platz.  And when we came out a side exit we found out why.  They had erected a large fence that was covered with a tarp around the entire square so that you had to go through security points on different streets and show a ticket to get in.  Unfortunately we didn’t have tickets.  We’d finished playing “Josephine” and we were trying to time it so that we could get there and hear the last
 half of the concert.  Well our timing was good because we got there right at intermission and a lot of people seemed to be leaving because it started raining lightly.  The orchestra was set up in the Feldherrnhalle monument so they were covered but I still wondered how hard it had to rain before they just canceled everything.  And I thought with people leaving and if it didn’t rain *too* hard we still might have a chance of getting in.  David tried talking with one of the security people and they directed us completely around the plaza to the far end.  We walked a block or so and reached the opposite end of the plaza facing the Feldherrnhalle.  By now we were a couple city blocks away from the stage.  This was an immense outdoor concert!  Once again we spoke with the security people and this time they said we couldn’t get in at all without a ticket and unfortunately the box office was closed.  Munich seems to be a very ‘by the rules’ sort of
 place so that was that. 

All the while we’d been hiking around the square I’d noticed people set up strategically at different points around the security fence.  Most of them had lawn chairs, umbrellas, bottles of wine or beer and maybe food too.  So these were people that couldn’t get tickets or maybe they lived in the area and this was a regular thing they did.  Where David and I stopped at the far end of the plaza I pointed out that there were people sitting on the window ledges of a nearby building.  It was an old office building or something like that, and if you jumped and scrambled up a bit to the window frame on the first floor, you were just high enough to see the symphony over the fence, *and* the window frame provided a little shelter from the rain.  We debated jumping up in a free window, but then I said ‘no’ to this idea because I had visions of one of us falling or not making the jump and breaking an arm or spraining a wrist and not being able to play the
 show.  So then I saw the cafe across the street.  Even in the light rain, people were sitting outside and I voted to join them in the hope that we could hear the concert while having a glass of wine.  We got there right as the bell for the end of intermission was sounding (it was actually a french horn fanfare - but used to the same effect.) and got a table.  Well we were able to *mostly* hear the orchestra except the passages that were really soft, and the wine was nice too, but about ten minutes into the concert, a group of chatty people showed up.  And even though I think most of the people outside were trying to listen to the orchestra, we really couldn’t tell just one table to ‘shush’ and they seemed pretty oblivious to the fact that there was even a concert in progress.  So I told David I wanted to pay for the wine and move before the last piece started.  The last piece they were playing was Ravel’s “The Waltz” and is one of my very
 favorite compositions.  And after getting this far, I didn’t want to miss hearing the Munich Philharmonic’s version just because some chatty people wanted to be social.  So we settled up at the cafe.  Maybe a hundred meters in front of us, there had been a girl with an umbrella standing at a gap in the fence where you could peek through and see the stage.  And fortunately I think she’d had enough of the rain and left just as we approached the fence so we took her spot.  It was perfect!  I could see Feldherrnhalle all lit up in the distance and an ocean of people spreading out in front of them.  When they played the soft passages I could put my ear to the fence and hear everything.  It was a great interpretation and when they finished the crowd went crazy and they had to play 2 encores.  I’m sorry we weren’t able to get in and see the concert with the crowd, but I have to admit, this was a pretty interesting way to experience the show!

This week Munich is also having a summer opera festival and last night they had a performance of Vencenzo Bellini’s “Norma” at the Nationaltheater.  Monday is our day off and David and I went to try and get tickets but when we got to the box office the lady said they were completely sold out.  She said our only chance was to wait out front and see if anyone had extra tickets that they were unable to use and were selling.  She also warned us about scalpers and said to check the printed price on the ticket against the asking price.  Well we did find a lady with two 15 euro tickets and she was asking 35 euros each for them.  We thought that was a little much and as we started to walk away she said she’d take 30 but we decided to wait a little longer.  When they rang the bell for the opera to start we each offered her 25 euros and she begrudgingly took it.  But I felt like it was fair enough and she still made an extra 10 euros on each ticket.  We
 rushed to our seats which wasn’t easy because we were in the top balcony in the last row!  But at least they were center seats and once we got settled they weren’t too bad.  They weren’t actually seats per se.  It was more like a tall padded bench with a back rest and a foot rest.  But this allowed us to stand up and see the action happening below.  To the left and right of our center bench seats were two short rows of regular theatre seats.  This seemed really impractical because the people in those seats couldn’t see much of anything. But then I noticed those seats had reading lights and the older lady to the right of me had a score.  When the show started she opened her score and sat there listening to the live sound and following along with her music.  – Kind of an interesting way to see a show, don’t you think?  Other people in these ‘special’ seats were doing the same thing and I really liked the idea.  I wasn’t familiar with
 this opera but it was wonderful. - It was a pretty typical Italian soap opera (pun intended), but the music was very accessible and good, and the singers and musicians were all top notch.  It’s obvious to me that people here love live music and it’s really refreshing to see that.   At the opera and at the symphony I saw people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to share this common passion and I know I’m going to miss having this experience when I get back home.  Although I also probably won’t have to worry about scalpers at classical music performances in LA!

Auf Wiedersehen!
Katie

http://www.katiecavera.com
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