MEDIA ALERT: Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Songstress Ute Lemper Celebrates the Art of Chanson March 29 at Royce Hall
Who : Renowned German chanteuse Ute Lemper with acclaimed Berlin-based ensemble Vogler Quartet and composer/clarinetist Stefan Malzew.
What : The luminous Ute Lemper, backed by the Vogler Quartet and Stefan Malzew brings a new stage show to UCLA Live’s Royce Hall as part of a North American tour coinciding with the March 20 album release of Paris Days, Berlin Nights from Steinway & Sons. The album and performance feature post-war tales of love and despair from the French songbook by Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf, alongside music from Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht, which hearkens back to the years of the revolutionary and decadent Weimer Republic. The evening also features passionate songs from Latin-American adventurer Astor Piazzolla and Polish-born Israeli singer Chava Albertstein. The Vogler Quartet lends these chansons a delicate yet powerful sound in arrangements by Malzew, who infuses complimentary flavors of piano, clarinet and accordion.
Lemper says she considers herself “an ambassador to the European songbook of the Weimar years—the Brecht, the Weill, the Piaf, the Brel, the Kabarett…It’s a great responsibility and I’m proud to bring this music out into our millennium and the world.”
When : Thursday, March 29 at 8 p.m. (doors 7 p.m.) Tickets available at uclalive.org , the UCLA Box Office at 310.825.2101, or via Ticketmaster ($20-$65).
Where: UCLA Live at Royce Hall. 340 Royce Drive, UCLA Campus. More information: uclalive.org .
Press Contact : Jessica Wolf 310.825.7789 or [email protected] Limited press tickets available.
Press Images: Available for download at http://www.uclalive.org/about/press-images
About: UCLA Live presents world-class performing arts with a global perspective, enhancing the experience by engaging, cultivating and developing artists and audiences.
Ute Lemper Ute Lemper’s career is vast and varied. She has made her mark on the stage, in films, in concert and as a unique recording artist. She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs, the French chanson, the works of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht and her portrayals on Broadway, in Paris and in London’s West End. Her professional debut on the musical stage was in the original Vienna production of Cats in the roles of Grizabella and Bombalurina. She went on to play Peter Pan in Peter Pan (Berlin) and Sally Bowles in Jerome Savary’s Cabaret (Paris), for which she received the Moliere Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She played Lola in The Blue Angel (Berlin) and Maurice Bejart created a ballet for her, La Mort Subite (Paris). Ute also appeared in many Weill revues with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater, and she created the part of Velma Kelly in London’s production of Chicago in the West End, for which she was honored with the Laurence Olivier Award, and moved to the Broadway production after one year.
Lemper’s solo concerts, which include Kurt Weill/Berthold Brecht recitals, Dietrich and Piaf, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Kosma, Prevert and Sondheim evenings, and a Berlin cabaret evening, have been produced in prestigious venues throughout the world. Her symphony concerts include The Seven Deadly Sins, “Songs from Kurt Weill,” Songbook (Michael Nyman) and songs from Weill, Piaf and Dietrich, with the symphony orchestras of London, Israel, Boston, Hollywood, San Francisco, Berlin, the Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Illusions Orchestra (Bruno Fontaine) and the Michael Nyman Band (Michael Nyman). She also appeared in Folksongs with the Luciano Berio Orchestra (Luciano Berio), and with the Matrix Ensemble (Robert Ziegler), performing Berlin cabaret songs. She has performed with the finest symphony orchestras all over the world from Buenos Aires to Sydney.
Vogler Quartet Formed in East Berlin in 1985, and still with its original members, the Vogler Quartet quickly established itself as one of the finest quartets of its generation. Mastering a repertoire of more than 200 works from all periods and musical styles, they are widely recognized for their uncommon musical intelligence, homogeneous sound, insightful interpretations and unconventional programming. They now pursue an international schedule of concerts and master classes in prestigious venues all over the world. The Vogler Quartet regularly commissions and premieres new works, recently including quartets by Frank Michael Beyer, Jörg Widmann, and Mauricio Kagel.
Stefan Malzew A versatile musician, Stefan Malzew is one of Germany’s foremost advocates of increasing the accessibility of classical music. He has brought classical masterpieces to the German masses through his chamber orchestra version of The Magic Flute , a semi-staged version of Wagner’s Tannhäuser and transcriptions of Tosca and La Bohème for small opera theaters. His special presentations such as Mozart250, Sunday at Four, Concert Nights of Neubrandenburg, a prizewinning YouTube project entitled “Stefans Musikworkshop” and his own radio show for children, have allowed the German public to discover classical music in new ways. Malzew is also a gifted composer, having composed several original pieces including chamber music works, two operas ( Das Opernpupp and Libuschas Tod ), a prize- winning concerto for clarinet and orchestra, four concertos for jazz quartet and orchestra, a concerto for three flutes and orchestra, which was commissioned by the summer music festival of Mecklenburg, and Fragen an Mozart. As an arranger, he created the successful project MoJazzArt and arranged works for Ute Lemper and the Vogler Quartet.