Concert day in Frankfurt! (And happy birthday, Kate!)
June 4, 2024
TENET Germany Travelogue, Day 3
KATE MARONEY, MEZZO-SOPRANO
I arose on my birthday in Frankfurt, looking forward to spending a full day of music-making with dear friends.
There is nothing quite like a European continental breakfast to fortify one’s jet-lagged body and the spread at the Mercure Hotel did not disappoint. An abundance of honey varietals! Cheese and charcuterie! Fresh-squeezed orange juice! And enough nutella to feed a small army, or perhaps even my son. The day was off to a great start.
We headed over to the beautiful Katharinenkirche for a rehearsal and masterclass with conducting students from Frankfurt University and their professor Florian Lohmann.
During our lunch break, I jogged along the beautiful Main river, which is a tributary of the Rhine that flows through the heart of the city. Frankfurt is a remarkably walkable city and it’s fascinating to see the synthesis of old and new architecture. The steeples of churches and the huge Frankfurter Dom are still visible above most buildings, but there is also a high-rise skyline emerging in this financial center of Germany, which reminded me of my home in rapidly-evolving downtown Brooklyn.
Our afternoon rehearsal was spent making sure we had a roadmap for the program as we are configured differently for every piece. I marveled at how beautiful my colleagues sounded, and how flexible everyone is. (Considering this was our first day here, a lot of focus was necessary and I must say we did admirably!)
Our concert was attended by a very appreciative audience who insisted on an encore. It was such a warm welcome and a beautiful start to the tour. We ended the day enjoying a pilsner with our new friends from Frankfurt University.
This has been a short and wonderful time in Frankfurt. Tomorrow we will head by train to Kassel, the land of fairy-tales (literally where the Grimm brothers lived and worked.) I leave this day, a very happy and memorable birthday, with gratitude for the ability to travel in music with friends and to bring good will to audiences wherever we go. A new word I learned and what I will leave as a parting wish is “Freudenfreude” or the idea of being happy for someone else’s happiness, a subset of empathy. So much of singing involves looking inward, and this we must do, but as artists we must always remember that we are professional empathizers who observe the world and reflect it back to the listener and to each other. The gift of travel opens that world and enriches our music.
……next stop: Kassel!