· 9 – 18 May 2014 International Festival of Vocal

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www.a-cappella-festival.com

Having the time of your life is certainly something worth about! We’re clearly not the only Friday 9 May 2014, 8pm ones who think so – which is why in 2014, the International Festival of will Michaeliskirche be held for the fifteenth time! It’ll feature top stars from the world of vocal music, ambitious young Opening concert singing groups, and also vocal artistes appearing in Leipzig for the first time. Among the newcomers at a cappella 2014 will be COOL & JAZZY from Moscow, who will be celebrating their twentieth an- & niversary with a lively stage show. Young British ensemble THE MARIAN CONSORT will also be making Germany their a cappella debut with music by outstanding English composers from the Golden Age. At three recitals we’ll be able to enjoy four past and present prize-winners of the International A CAPPELLA , and Dances from the Teütsch Contest. The prize-winners’ concert will be shared by MIXTET from Estonia and THE QUINTESSENTIAL Lute Book (1566) by Melchior Neusidler FIVE from Georgia, both of whom put in breath-taking performances which went down a storm with both audience and jury in 2013. KLANGBEZIRK will be presenting the family concert in their inimitably amarcord have something special up their sleeve for the open- charming fashion. And OMMM, that astonishingly creative ensemble from France, will be setting off ing concert of the fifteenth a cappella festival! The hosts will musical fireworks at the end of the festival. Apart from hosts AMARCORD, Leipzig will be represented be teaming up with the Lautten Compagney (an by the multi-award-winning CALMUS ENSEMBLE, who won the first Up-and-Coming Young Ensemble ensemble celebrating its thirtieth anniversary) to showcase Re- Award back in 2003. Some of the foremost names appearing in 2014 will be old friends who you naissance in a special manner. During this thrilling cel- definitely shouldn’t miss: Bobby McFerrin, the vocal miracle of our time, THE in ebration of the Renaissance based on the 1566 Teütsch Lute Book by Melchior Neusidler, sixteenth- the fortieth and sadly final year of their long, successful career, and the Sardinian natural singers of century vocal music (including by famous names such as and ) CUNCORDU E TENORE DE OROSEI, who will be beaming sheer magic straight into our souls! Further- will be colourfully intertwined with lutes, cornetts and percussion. Witness the Leipzig debut of this more, the International A CAPPELLA Contest accompanied by workshops and seminars will be held for stunning project so important to both ensembles – you’ll be amazed! the eighth time. Come along with your friends and family, and enjoy the unique festival atmosphere in the capital of a cappella singing! We promise you’ll have the time of your lives! Tickets € 24 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 19 Concessions* € 15 amarcord Saturday 10 May 2014, 8pm Schaubühne Lindenfels Tickets Gewandhaus: +49 (0)341 127 0280 Cool & Jazzy M. Oelsner’s music shop: +49 (0)341 960 5656 Ticketgalerie GmbH: +49 (0)341 141414 Russia Leipziger Volkszeitung: (0800) 218 1050 Voices No Limits All authorized ticket agencies www.a-cappella-festival.de Cool & Jazzy from Russia will be appearing at a cappella for the first time in 2014. Already performing for twenty years, the The prices stated include booking fees and a donation of 50 cents for Schaubühne Lindenfels. Ward Swingle Award Winners easily fill venues in their mother- land. One of Russia’s foremost vocal jazz line-ups, Cool & Jazzy have made a name for themselves with their unique take on not just jazz standards but also music * Children, full-time students, apprentices, trainees, unwaged (except at the concert on 14 May ranging from house to classical, not to mention their own compositions produced in their distinctive 2014 in the Mendelssohn Hall of the Gewandhaus), voluntary personnel, severely disabled, Leipzig style. If you like New York Voices and Take 6, you’ll love Cool & Jazzy! Pass holders (proof required)

www.facebook.com/acappellafestivalleipzig Tickets € 24,50 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 19,50 Concessions* € 15,50

Sunday 11 May 2014, 3pm Sunday 11 May 2014, 8pm Alte Handelsbörse Family concert Peterskirche Klangbezirk Marian Consort Germany UK

Woodstock in the Living Room An Emerald in a Work of Gold

The hospitable family concert for people of all ages will be Even young British vocal groups can be relied upon to meticu- hosted by some old friends: Klangbezirk, runners-up in the In- lously recreate European gems of harmony singing. And one of ternational a cappella Contest in 2007 and now criss-crossing the bright new hopes among British groups specializing in early the world exploring all sorts of music in their unique vocal style. music is the Marian Consort. Founded in Oxford in 2007, they Being freelance parents and creative talents, these four charm- will be performing for the first time in Leipzig at a cappella. ing souls certainly know how to capitivate even the very tiniest members of the audience. During their Their programme entitled ‘An Emerald in a Work of Gold’ comprises Maynly sacred English music from family concert, the members of Klangbezirk will be passing on songs and memories of their parents the sixteenth century taken from the Dow Partbooks – a collection of pieces by and Wil- and grandparents to the youngest fans of vocal music. They’ll be revealing a cappella secrets and liam Byrd as well as lesser-known composers such as Nicholas Strogers, Philip van Wilder and Robert presenting hippie wisdom dressed up in in fine jazz garb, making for a fest with a living room Parsons which was compiled in the 1580s. atmosphere where the audience is invited to both listen and participate. 1 adult € 15 2 adults € 25 Under-18s € 2 Tickets € 20 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 16 Concessions* € 12 Monday 12 May 2014, 8pm Tuesday 13 May 2014, 8pm Schaubühne Lindenfels Gewandhaus, Großer Saal Prize-winners' concert of the International A CAPPELLA Contest Mixtet Leipzig 2013 Bobby McFerrin Estonia USA The Quintessential Five Bobby McFerrin Solo Georgia This is a man brimming with music, a truly unique singing force in the world of vocal music! And we’re thrilled to be able Closeness (Mixtet) and Folk to Jazz (The Quintessential Five) to welcome him back to the fifteenth a cappella festival! An inspiration for singers around the globe for decades, Bobby Mixtet and The Quintessential Five are two very different groups who were crowned joint winners at McFerrin recently joined forces with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis to last year’s International A CAPPELLA Contest, even though they’d both existed for barely more than a present his audio biography, and also explored his own roots on his 2013 album spirityouall. In his year! Boasting technical and sonic brilliance and with a performance style that’s sometimes intimate, solo concerts, the audience rediscover not just Bobby McFerrin but also themselves and the musicality sometimes expressive, both ensembles display great talent coupled with musical ambition – and we of the world. Bobby McFerrin is a man who knows no fear and no boundaries. Instead, he draws in- can’t wait to find out what the future holds in store for them both! Their joint prize-winners’ concert spiration from his surroundings, and passes on this inspiration to those around him with his incredibly will be an opportunity to find out how they’ve evolved in the meantime. Both groups are closely at- contagious musical energy. Everyone should see Bobby McFerrin at least once in their lives! tached to their national musical culture, yet have also succumbed to the allures of jazz. Discover the frontiers of folk and jazz in the company of these young hopefuls from Estonia and Georgia. Tickets € 18,50 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 18,50 Concessions* € 12,50 Tickets € 58 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 48 Concessions* € 38

Wednesday 4 May 2014, 8pm Leipzig Gewandhaus, Mendelssohn-Saal Patron: A CAPPELLA AWARD Jury chairman: Stephen Connolly Calmus Ensemble (formerly in the King's Singers) Entry requirements: Vocal groups with 3-8 singers Germany Average age 28 + seminars and Coy Remarks: Witty and Entertaining workshops Kindly supported by Cut-price tickets for concerts during the a cappella festival Winners of the Up-and-Coming Young Ensemble Award at the Entry deadline: a cappella Contest in 2003, the Calmus Ensemble is now one 31 January 2014 of the most respected names and foremost representatives of For more details, visit: Leipzig vocal talent. Featuring an unusual line-up of one female and four male voices, they are renowned www.a-cappella-wettbewerb. 15 – 18 May 2014 for their tasteful, balanced and resplendent sound combined with homogeneous delivery bursting with com freshness. The quintet thrives on its versatility, which will be amply illustrated by a programme featuring madrigals by Heinrich Schütz and ballads by , jazzy arrangements of poetry by Wilhelm Busch and Christian Morgenstern, and their own treatment of songs by Georg Kreisler. Experience an exquisite blend of sensitivity and sensuousness in an exclusively vocal setting originally made in Leipzig! Tickets Cat. I € 22 Cat. II € 15,50 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card Cat. I € 22 Cat. II € 15,50 In conjunction with the Concessions* Cat. I € 18 Cat. II € 13 Gewandhaus

Thursday 15 May 2014, 8pm Friday 16 May 2014, 8pm Ev.-reformierte Kirche Thomaskirche

Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosei The Hilliard Ensemble UK Water and Wine: Songs from A Hilliard Songbook

This time, a glimpse of the exhilarating singing skills found in With concerts at leading festivals all over the world, top other parts of the world will be provided by five male voices international awards, and a string of commissions and first from Sardinia. Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosei embody the pure performances, the Hilliard Ensemble is rightly famed for their urge to sing and the original power of song – and have been recitals of vocal music at the very highest level. Celebrating nurturing one of Europe’s oldest musical languages since 1978. Due to Sardinia’s relative isolation their fortieth anniversary in 2014, their status as the first ensemble to appear at the a cappella festival from the Italian Maynland, the island’s vocal style charted its own development. Reminiscent at times for a third time is easily justified by their sheer class, distinctive sound and poignancy. Their perfor- of Central Asian , ‘cantu a tenore’ has been placed on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible mance will of course once again demonstrate their extraordinary skills when singing masterpieces of Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Spiritual songs (‘a cuncordu’) and secular songs (‘a tenore) will be , yet also underline their skilled arrangements of contemporary compositions. See and hear performed in Leipzig whose earthy, archaic energy fascinated the audience during the ensemble’s first this truly outstanding ensemble one last time – in its by now regular setting at St Thomas’s Church. appearance at a cappella in 2004. Tickets Cat. I € 35 Cat. II € 27 Cat. III € 22 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card Cat. I € 29 Cat. II € 23 Cat. III € 18 Tickets € 18 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 18 Concessions* € 12 Concessions* Cat. I € 24 Cat. II € 18 Cat. III € 14

Saturday 17 May 2014, 8pm Sunday 18 May 2014, 7pm Werk 2, Halle A Gewandhaus, Großer Saal

Ommm Final concert France Just Listen Festival highlights

The 2009 A CAPPELLA AWARD winners are back! The amaz- What better way to conclude the weeklong a cappella ing Ommm recently returned home from touring their second festival with a review – one which is as short as possible yet album with a CARA nomination for the best European album as colourful as necessary to adequately capture the world of and first prize in the pop category at vokal.total in Graz. singing and the cosmos of the festival in a single concert? They’ve also been putting their echolocation system to good use and stretching out their musical feel- The final concert will feature some of the musical highlights of the past few days, the winners of the ers to explore styles ranging from and trip-hop to and world music. Showing impressive 8th International A CAPPELLA Contest, and the chance to enjoy the festival’s broad diversity of vo- vocal ability and with a propensity for innovative experimentation, Omm is quite simply an all-round cal skills in a concentrated manner almost impossible to find elsewhere. Beat the rush and get your work of art, its members living and enjoying musical freedom par excellence. What could be easier tickets now! than to abandon yourself to this cosmopolitan blend cultivated in France and – to take Ommm at their word – ‘Just Listen’?! The winners of the 2014 International A CAPPELLA Contest will be announced during this recital. Internationalen A CAPPELLA Wettbewerbes Leipzig 2014 ausgezeichnet. Tickets Cat. I € 56 Cat. II € 42 Cat. III € 30 Cat. IV € 20 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card Cat. I € 47 Cat. II € 36 Cat. III € 25 Cat. IV € 15 Tickets € 25 Senior citizens/Leipzig Card € 20 Concessions* € 15 Concessions* Cat. I € 42 Cat. II € 32 Cat. III € 22 Cat. IV € 12