Peta Stewart
It may have taken him a decade to bring the Ulm Wind Band back to Cape Town, but it is well worth the wait, says Josef Christ, who has been conducting this award-winning wind orchestra for more than 20 years. Christ will be in town to conduct not only his band but the combined forces of the Ulm Band with the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble. The concert will take place at the New Apostolic’s Silvertown Auditorium on July 30 at 4 pm. The Ulm band will also give a lunch hour concert at the Endler Hall on July 28 before going up to visit the Cango Caves.
“For many of our group, the visit to South Africa is their first, and the excitement in the rehearsals we have been doing in preparation for the tour is itself exciting to see,” he says. In fact, adding to the buzz is that Christ’s own children, Carolin (21) and Niklas (18), clarinettist and trumpeter respectively, are also members of the band and on the tour, too.
Conductor’s grant by German Council of Music
Christ comes from a home where there was always music – his mother played the double bass and his father the guitar. When he was 16, he knew he would be a professional musician.
“It was possible in those days to take music in high school as a main subject and, of the group of 20 who did this, about half have become professional musicians. After school I was conscripted – into the military band in Ulm for a year, meeting a lot of musicians and having a lot of time to practice.”
He studied the clarinet in Mannheim, and played clarinet in the Ulm Opera Orchestra for eight years. “I have always loved the clarinet. Its sound is so warm and expressive, plus you need to have a very virtuoso technique. On top of that, there’s a huge amount of great music written for the clarinet – the quintets by Mozart and Brahms, for instance, and works by Weber, Debussy, Copland, Bernstein … “
He also studied conducting in The Netherlands and, in 2008, he was awarded a conductor’s grant by the German Council of Music. He could have conducted symphony orchestras but chose the wind band. Why?
“We have a vast number of wind bands in the German south; every little village has its own wind band. In Biberach, 45 km south from Ulm and where I was born, we had a large symphonic wind band with about 60 members. I grew up with this sound and learned a lot from older players. My first conducting experience was as assistant conductor in this wind band. I also conducted a good string orchestra for 10 years. Then, 21 years ago, I took of the Junge Bläserphilharmonie Ulm (Ulm Youth Wind Band).
“A wind band is really special,” he says. “It has a richness of colours and a vast sound. There are so many possibilities, from the softest piano rising up to a very expressive and round forte. The large sound potential is far greater than that of a symphony orchestra… for example we have FOUR tubas and NINE trumpets! We also have 10 flutes, 12 clarinets and 5 saxophones which make a very warm sound.”
The best of 85
Under his direction, the Ulm Band has been judged the best of 85 in the World Youth Music Festival in Zurich in 2005. It also won first prize in a competition in Stellenbosch in 1999. And it has played in venues such as the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Sydney Opera House. With him at the helm, the band has some of the best young wind players from the region. Many of its 61 musicians, between the ages of 14 and 23, have won prizes in national competitions, and all are skilled in repertoire across the board – classics, jazz and the whole range of popular music. You will hear them explore all that in the combined concert – Symphonic Dances from Fiddler on the Roof to the music of Phil Collins and Gounod.
‘Colours for Trombone’
For the band members, the tour is the start of their summer holiday. “On our return to Germany,” says Christ, “they will have a break before rehearsals begin for our annual concert on October 14 at the Congress Centrum in Ulm. We have a fine soloist in this concert, the wonderful trombonist Fabrice Millischer, winner of the ARD International Music Competition Munich in 2007 and in 2014 the ECHO-Klassik-Award. It will be fun to perform with him – he’ll play perform Colours for Trombone by Bert Appermont.”
The CPO’s resident conductor and music director of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Brandon Phillips will conduct the CPYWE in the first half, standing in for Faan Malan who is currently out of town.
The concert is a collaboration not only between the two wind bands, but with the New Apostolic Church and is supported by the Goethe Institute. Tickets are R50 with concessions for senior citizens and students.
Who: Cape Town Youth Wind Ensemble and Ulm Youth Wind Band
What: Blowing up a storm
Where: Silvertown Auditorium, Athlone
When: 30 July, 2017 at 4 pm
Info: Marvin Weavers CPO 021 410 9089/ 073 852 7829
Book: http://bit.ly/BlowUpAStorm
WS
