Premiere "my poet's love", Porgy & Bess
Feb. 3, 2015, 8:30 p.m.
The months, weeks, days before an album premiere are...well...they are crazy and they are all at once: exciting, scary, exhausting, powerful and full of hope. mathias und I spent all of January preparing the last part of the puzzle: the staging!In between Hardo Gruber (Universal), Andy Orel (graphic designer), mathias and I we were caught up in finishing the booklet for the CD and LP. I won't bore you with working details, but let me put it this way: we were all stretched to our limits...BUT in the end we all ended up with a booklet that we love.
So the day of our release concert got closer and closer and mathias had built up so much energy that he literally was able to blow a fuse!!!!! And I was almost going crazy...I had a lot of trouble falling asleep...the concert, the songs kept spinning in my head. I couldn't wait to get on stage and at the same time was very very scared of the fact that our songs are gonna be heard for the first time. But all in all we - Ingrid, Hans, Mario, mathias and I - were ready to go and we couldn't wait - it was about time!!!
On the day of the premiere, as usual : ) I went to get my hair done by my favourite hairdresser Nicole and while I was sitting there concentrating and preparing for tonight mathias called me and as soon as I heard his voice, I knew something came up...our sound engineer, the one and only Christoph Burgstaller, was very very sick and wasn't able to mix our live sound for tonight!!!We all trust him blindly and he knows us and the way we play like no one else, he is part of our band, so we were worried, very worried. On the other hand, we knew that we've spent so much time rehearsing that we would be able to get up there and play no matter what but still it made mathias and me very very nervous or even more nervous. Interviews were scheduled at around 15:30 at Porgy & Bess. When I arrived mathias and Ingrid we're already setting up the stage with Porgy's young engineers Jakub (sound) and Willi (lights) who were taking care of us that night under the supervision of Fabian Rucker, not only is he an incredible musician but also an incredible sound engineer and producer. He came during our soundcheck and helped us so so much!!! Dearest Fab, we cannot thank you enough!!!In between mathias and I had a wonderful interview with Roland Spiegel (Bayrischer Rundfunk) and I found out how and why mathias ended up in Vienna : ) I tell you more another time but at this point thank you Roland : ), it was our pleasure! I kept running back and forth between interviews, photos and soundchecking. At 19:30 we were gathering backstage...one hour to go!!!Birgit Gabler and Hardo Gruber came by to wish us good luck...thank you for your support from the very beginning!
The last moments before the show really feel like an exceptional state...30 min left, 20 min left, 10 min left, 5 min left...you could say that we spent a whole year preparing for this moment!!! The lights went down, the music stopped and we silently entered the stage. The audience greeted us with a warm applause, I just stood there for a moment, without saying a word, just taking a look at the wonderful people in this room before I opened the evening with a poem by Heinrich Heine and the song "The Better Ones". From that moment on every song, every minute flew by and it all felt so naturally. Hans, Ingrid, Mario, mathias and I we enjoyed playing so very very much!!! The rhythm section was cooking and Mario played some incredible solos!!! (mathias decided months ago that he wanted to play the whole concert by heart, each and every song...can you imagine...and he did it : ) !!!!)Did you notice the two beautiful books on stage with the portraits of Rilke and Heine painted by Raja Schwahn-Reichmann?
Dear Audience, you were unbelievable, your concentration, your energy throughout the evening, it all fell into place and we are deeply grateful for this experience. After our encore, an original of Schumanns Dichterliebe "Ich will meine Seele tauchen", we left the stage - feeling so good...
And after 10 min break I went out to meet all of you. My dear friend Klaudia was helping us with our merch table (thank you so much) and I joined her right there and you could say that I spent my evening chatting with all of you. I simply had a wonderful time! I lost track of time but later on I went back to the bar and we spent the end of the night in a small circle of friends eating "Knödel mit Ei" (dumplings with eggs) and talking.
It is on...my poet's love is out there...so we can finally let go!!!
Yours Lia!!!
Some special guests and friends on our special night:
Konrad Paul Liessmann - philosopher,
Dr. Wolfgang Waldner - head of cultural department, Ministry of Forein Affairs,
Roland Spiegel - Bavarian Broadcast/Munich
Ota Swoboda - Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Budweis
Birgit Gabler - our booker & Nicole Mayer - our Swiss promotion lady & Josef Schartner,
our promotion man in Austria.
Eva-Maria Kumpfmüller - voc,
Michaela Reingruber - sax,
Johanna Gröbner - piano ,
Roman Rindberger - trpt,
Fabian Rucker - sax
for those who still want to read some more : )
http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/oesterreich/kultur/sn/artikel/lia-pale-fuehle-mich-auf-der-buehne-nackt-136683/
http://www.nachrichten.at/freizeit/Lia-Pale-Sprache-die-unter-die-Haut-geht;art7,1637989
http://tinyurl.com/ompwqab
http://www.gettyimages.at/editorial/wien-pictures
