Read on to find out about the Concert Heaven and Concert Hell performances of baritone Benjamin Appl...
Benjamin Appl... Concert Heaven
Schubert Die schöne Müllerin
Benjamin Appl (baritone) et al
Chennai, India (February 2018)
One of the greatest experiences I had was during a tour through India a few years ago. It took place in Chennai; I’d never been there before, and the Goethe Institute was planning a festival about water to raise awareness of the resources, particularly in Chennai where one of the most polluted rivers goes straight through the city and into the sea. The idea was to have a pavilion on the beach, exactly at that spot where the river ends, but the local government didn’t allow this, so we ended up in the backyard of an art gallery – it was very beautiful, with trees over the stage.
I performed Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, where you have the feeling that the Miller’s boy is in complete balance with nature, next to one of the most polluted rivers in the world. There was wind rustling through the leaves, and in the background was the honking of all the tuk-tuks, and I was in front of an audience that had never listened to western classical music in their lives. They were sitting there on boxes, they didn’t have any texts or anything and it really was a very special evening; a monkey even came down and sat next to me on stage for a few minutes!
'The experience made me realise something about the essence of music'
It was all very spontaneous, in a way, and it made me realise something about the essence of music, about the connection between cultures: even if we know nothing about the music or the texts, we can share the emotions and focus on a different level to the music, the origin of it and the origin of humankind in relationship with the environment. What was wonderful and refreshing was that these people went there without prejudice or loaded with expectations. They were like a blank piece of paper we could write on. That was something very fulfilling.
Concert heaven, concert hell... Benjamin Appl
Concert Hell
Schumann ‘Der Nussbaum’ etc
Benjamin Appl (baritone), Jorge Viladoms (piano)
León, Mexico (November 2023)
I went to Mexico on a tour with the pianist Jorge Viladoms; we had a concert in his hometown of Durango and the next day we were supposed to perform in León. I looked at the map, and despite Mexico being a very big country I didn’t understand why we had to fly from Durango to Mexico City, change planes and then fly to León – on the map it looked like we could drive from one place to the other. We were told we would have to drive through the state of Zacatecas: one of the most dangerous things to do, as there are a lot of shootings and kidnapping of people who drive through!
A risky drive through Mexican gangland...
We performed in Durango, and the next morning it turned out our flight to Mexico City was cancelled because of fog. So, the only chance to get to the next concert was by car. They organised a car via the state authorities, which had signs on for the missing persons department, so we thought that might be safer. We drove for seven or eight hours and everyone was quite tired, but no one dared to close their eyes. In the end everything was fine, though we arrived only minutes before the start of the concert; we were obviously not as focused as we wanted to be.
Afterwards the promoter said he was very happy we all arrived safely, as the string quartet who came last time couldn’t play because the cellist was shot. So that was a very unfocused concert that I wished not to do; I was shaking on stage and it was not very pleasant for me.
Benjamin Appl’s album ‘For Dieter…’ is out now on Alpha Classics