Im Frauenparadies

In our program "Im Frauenparadies (engl. "In Women's Paradise") we revive the sound of popular music of the 1920s and 1930s. Original arrangements in the proven salon orchestra style transport us to the atmosphere of the entertainment theaters between Vienna and Berlin.

These were characterized by divas: Adored, revered, admired, they created small fine chansons, big pompous leading roles, funny hits and frivolous petitessen. They sang, played and danced from waltz to shimmy in operettas, on cabaret stages and in the young talkies.

Today their names are forgotten - our program wants to snatch them from oblivion and breathe new life into them. Annie Dirkens and Louise Kartousch, Rita Georg and Betty Fischer, Rosy Barsony and Gitta Alpar, Martha Eggerth and Zarah Leander: they all entertained their audiences and shaped the entertainment of their time. Ethel Merhaut slips into the role of the divas: her diverse talent ranges from romantic arias to swinging dances to frivolous hits.

Stefano Bernardin leads through the evening as impresario, who is closely connected to the great, competitive, eccentric divas and can provide insight into their professional and private lives.

The program includes well-known and unknown works by Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Fritz Kreisler, Paul Abraham, Kurt Weill, Robert Stolz, Werner Richard Heymann, Abraham Ellstein etc.. The texts are by the greats of their guild: Fritz Löhner-Beda, Ernst Marischka, Julius Brammer, Alfred Grünwald, Robert Gilbert, Bruno Balz, etc.

Original sound of a different kind entertains at a high level and immerses you in a diverse musical world.