Ute Lemper and the Vogler Quartet to Play Vogel Hall, 4/5

German cabaret vocalist Ute Lemper and Berlin's Vogler Quartet are joined by pianist and clarinetist Stefan Malzew, as they perform music from the Weimar-era on Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall.

Influenced by elements of tango and jazz, selections from composer Erwin Schulhoff's Five Pieces for String Quartet lead to sultry cabaret and evocative ballads by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Jacques Brel, Astor Piazzolla, and others.

About the artists: "Long recognized as one of the world's leading chamber groups, the Vogler Quartet is as notable for each member's prowess and personality as it is for The Players' collaboration in bringing chamber music to the world's great stages. 

"The Vogler Quartet's repertoire is extensive, embracing 'standard' works from Haydn to Bartók and the Second Viennese School, lesser known pieces-such as the quartets of Karl Amadeus Hartmann and the huge Second Quartet by Morton Feldman, which lasts several hours-and music by living composers, such as Wolfgang Rihm, whose works for quartet were the subject of a collaboration with the Arditti Quartet. The Vogler has given world premieres of quartets by Frank Michael Beyer, Ian Wilson, Jörg Widmann, Mauricio Kagel, and Erhard Grosskopf, among others. 

"A series at the Berlin Konzerthaus is a regular feature of the Vogler Quartet's schedule, as is the annual festival they founded in 2000 in the Irish town of Sligo. In 2002, the Vogler assumed artistic directorship of the Homburg/Saar Kammermusiktage in western Germany, while its members have also been responsible since 2005 for the award-winning Nordhesssiche Kindermusiktage in Kassel, an annual festival of musical events for children. The quartet's teaching commitments embrace work with children and, with professional quartets, master classes and workshops around Europe and the rest of the world, while in 2007 The Players succeeded the Melos Quartet as Professors of Chamber Music at the Stuttgart Conservatory.

"Ute Lemper's performing career grows out of a passionate and enduring commitment to art, politics and history, and out of a contentious and complicated relationship with her homeland and its past. Her panache, versatility and sophisticated repertoire-including Berlin cabaret songs and the dark gems of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill-have led her to international acclaim as a recording artist, and in the theatre, cabaret, and film worlds. Ms. Lemper was born in Münster, Germany in 1963. After graduation from the Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna, she started performing in Stuttgart with roles in plays by Fassbinder and others. She went on to dazzle audiences in Europe and worldwide in musical theatre roles, including: Velma Kelly in Chicago (London, New York, Las Vegas), Lola in The Blue Angel, the title role in Peter Pan (both in Berlin), Cats in Vienna, and Sally Bowles in Jérôme Savary's Paris production of Cabaret. Yet she has returned again and again to the dark, complex, and powerfully creative German past, in solo concerts like "Kurt Weill Recital" and "Berlin Cabaret Evening"; in symphony concerts, including The Seven Deadly Sins and Songs from Kurt Weill; in Pina Bausch's Kurt Weill Revue; and on the discs Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Vols. I & II), The Threepenny Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins, Mahagonny Songspiel, and Berlin Cabaret Songs (comprising works of songwriters censored or persecuted by the National Socialists)."

Tickets, $60 and $75, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For more information discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.

Photo Credit: Lucas Allen