"It was beautiful to fill your silence"

Since my return from Lebanon, I have been busy with preparing the B+L Zukunftsforum. It is an annual event of B+L to present views on the future of the construction supply industry and discuss them with clients. There are always two main blocks. One is the presentation of the forecasts of volumes in residential and non-residential construction by regions and countries. This data is also provided in the Global Building Monitor (GBM), which is the data portal of B+L. But in the event, we also have the chance to tell the story behind the numbers, and especially when we divert from numeric models to quantify the effects of policy changes, this becomes extremely interesting. The other block is to discuss work on future trends affecting the industry, such as digitalization, demographic changes, and their impact on the demand side and shifts in the distribution channels. It was an excellent event, and we start joking that Cologne is the "Davos of the Construction Material Industry." But seriously, there is a lot of expertise and experience on parade, which is far different from a "conference" but displays facts and figures for the industry.

Already during that preparation and unfortunately ongoing, I was busy with moving. This became a complete nightmare, so I was happy to get away for a concert of Cristina Branco in Bad Homburg as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival. I like Portuguese Fado and also her interpretation of it, which became more modern over the years. What surprised me was the age structure of the audience, which was more on the old side. It may be that the marketing of the Rheingau Musik Festival did not reach a younger audience, or also that Bad Homburg is a spa and retirement town. But if this would be the target group of Fado, then about half of the audience would be dead in 20 years, and with it a big part of this culture. The quote of Ms. Branco, which made me laugh, was when she thanked the audience with: "It was beautiful to fill your silence." That's about how passionate it can get when you sing for Germans in Bad Homburg.

Museum Concert in the Old Opera, Frankfurt

The Old Opera House in Frankfurt is one of the landmark buildings. In 1987 the Opera caught fire and it took 3 years and 200 Million EUR to rebuild it from the ashes of what became the largest such disaster since World War II. The fire was set by a homeless who broke into the building through a side window. Frustrated that he did not find food, he gathered some newspapers and burned down the building. Now, what looks old from outside, is just the plain opposite when you enter. It's more modern than the New Opera of town, with excellent seating and acoustics.

Last Monday, I was in the 4.th Museum Concert directed by Tung-Chieh Chuang with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester (Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra) and Kian Soltani cello. It was Georges Bizet Symphony in C Major, Camille Saint-Saëns Cello concerto Nr. 1 in a minor op. 33 and after the break Igor Strawinsky Petruschka (in the 1947 edition). It was nice and I really enjoyed the evening. Such concerts are more "meditative" than opera and a good start into the week.

Snapshot of the interior of the Old Opera House Frankfurt, taken during the break of the 4th Museum Concert.

Reut Regev's R*Time

Summer in Frankfurt is coming to a climax with 37 degrees Celsius. During this time, when theatres are in their Summer break, Der Palmengarten (Frankfurt's botanical garden) offers a series of open air concerts and events. Yesterday, is was Reut Regev's R*Time initiated by the Jazz-Initiative-Frankfurt. I really liked it. First of all the music and show itself, and secondly the atmosphere and the great spirit of the audience. How better can you spend a mid summer evening, than sitting in a palm garden (on the grass) with great music and a glas of wine? What did surprise me though, was the age distribution of the visitors. I clearly was at the lower bracket. Well, this concert was really cool, with complex music and great fun. And it is even more strange, because Bockenheim is the University area of Frankfurt am Main, and still no young people around. Perhaps they did not find it, because there was no "app"? Perhaps it was too expensive? I don't think so: at a reduced rate applicable to students the ticket was EUR 6.00 (US$ 6.98). Perhaps I should go to some of "their events" to find out. Let me download an app first.

Reut Regev and Igal Foni performing with band in the Palmengarten on 27.07.2018. My apologies for the photo quality.

Organ Recital in the Robert Samut Hall, Floriana

The Robert Samut Hall (35°53′30.8″N 14°30′11.8″E) is the former Floriana Wesleyan Methodist Church, which has been handed over to the Maltese Government and converted into a cultural centre in 1975. It is a neo-gothic architecture, built by the architect, illustrator and poet Thomas Mullet Ellis, which has been originally completed in 1883 and was the first building in Malta using electric lighting. It is equipped with manual pneumatic Willis organs from 1950. We went to a recital, but it was unfortunately performed on an electronic instrument. Roberta Bugeja played a mix of pieces from Buxtehude, Guilmant, Messiaen, Bossi and Gigout. 

Willis organ in the Robert Samut Hall. Not well maintained though.

Electronic Music Malta

Earlier in 2015 Electronic Music Malta (EMM) founded itself out of Maltese music enthusiasts, and yesterday night we joined friends for a performance in St James Cavalier, Valletta. Before appreciating the performance itself, I was impressed by St James Cavalier itself and how "the war machine has turned into a cultural center", with a sparkling cultural life in the walls of the old gun battery. It reminded me of the of B-05, just that of course in the middle of a beautiful city like Valletta, such efforts are by far more easy going. For the electronic music itself, I found the electronics more fascinating than the music at first. Most of the equipment in use, is built and assembled by the artists themselves, and it is far ahead of anything you may think of when it comes to entertainment audio equipment or commercial DJs. The repertoire was covering legends like Jean Michelle Jarre, a piece from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon,  Kraftwerk to Depeche Mode and others. I can't say, it is my kind of music. But without it, there would be no electronic dance music either. And without that there would be no pop music the way we know it. So, I appreciate electronic music as a research lab with all its experimental features which go beyond creating only tones by electronic means.