Intense silence and upbeat music at “Open Stage”
The musical journey ranged from the splendor of Baroque sounds to whimsical chart-topping pop, and just as versatile as music teacher and concert tenor Daniel Sans proved to be toward the end—appearing as the “Sharp Dressed Man” in a hat and glasses during his Open Stage performance—so too were the diverse performances that evening. Up and down the emotional roller coaster, with musical genres as diverse as they could possibly be—that’s Steinmühle when music is on the cultural agenda.
Those who arrived a little later and still had to “set up” additional rows of chairs were able to admire the evening’s first highlight while standing in awe. Nela Haeberle (Class 6c) and her duet partner Miriam Lange (as a guest) opened the evening and celebrated the beauty of the rich tones of their flutes in a beautifully performed three-movement flute sonata by Georg Philipp Telemann.
Traditionally, the annual “Open Stage” evening is designed to be a small, intimate event. The fact that audience interest turned out to be greater than expected was primarily due to the wide variety of performances. The Music Student Council, with Ulrike Wilmsmeyer, Daniel Sans, and Frank Wemme, had scheduled piano music to follow the opening. Nina Simmer (Class 5b) performed Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D with great composure and confidence, creating a remarkable beauty of sound on the piano. A focused silence also prevailed when Alex Despa (as a guest) performed Mozart’s Theme and Variations with great pianistic confidence and supplemented it with an improvisation of his own—a special challenge that he mastered with ease.
Poetry Slam and Karaoke
But it wasn’t just Telemann, Mozart, and original improvisations that were performed on stage that evening. Ninth-grade students courageously explored situations in which people of all ages can be struck by illness and presented this theme to the audience in the form of a poetry slam. Pauline Fehlinger, Evelyn Damer, and Sandro Pfuhl (Class 9b) prompted the audience to pause for a moment in reflection on the serious subject matter they had brought to life in their texts. Karaoke, on the other hand, is a crowd-pleaser for all age groups. Well aware of this, the hit song “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes was then performed as a contrast, presented as a duet by Anna Katharina Mecke and Chiara Schwarz (Class 7b). Further variety was provided by the confident performance of Flûte Seifart (Class 11b), who first played a rondo by the English composer Henry Purcell with orchestral backing and then presented Pachelbel’s Canon with a different sound in her second piece. Her performance, too, was characterized by tranquility and the quiet flow of the melodies.
After another foray into the world of poetry slam with Tom Marquardt and Finnian Kempkes (Class 9b)—featuring the thought-provoking yet emphatic message “The World is Yours”—it was the bands’ turn. Wearing the outfit mentioned at the beginning, music teacher Daniel Sans took the stage as keyboardist, accompanied by Arthur Laux on drums (Grade 12), saxophonist Tom Herfert (Grade 10c), and his colleague Frank Wemme on electric bass, as they backed the man in the spotlight: Fynn Konnertz (Grade 10b) performed ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” (and more) with vocals, lead guitar, and a passionate solo. With a different band lineup, Tom Herfert then gave a remarkable demonstration of his skills as a tenor saxophonist, with roaring themes and a rich, full-bodied solo in “Sax in the City” by Clarence Clemons.
Good Vibes with the Boarding School Band
With so much great music, the evening—which was hosted by Frank Wemme—was bound to end on a high note. What better way to wrap things up than to have the boarding school band perform for the finale? The seven-member group was downright “Radioactive” and in high spirits: With the song of the same name by the U.S. band Imagine Dragons, as well as Pharrell Williams’ number-one hit “Happy,” the audience was sent home in high spirits.
As a token of appreciation, principals Björn Gemmer and Bernd Holly handed out a sweet treat to all the participants. The Sound & Light team (Sam Kempkes (Class 11d) and Samuel Ruff (Class 10b)) had once again done a great job with the lighting and sound quality.
