Semmering (AT), Kurhaus Kultur.Sommer.Semmering
We were part of this year‘s „Kultur.Sommer.Semmering“ and I was very much looking forward to playing Schubert‘s Winter Journey within this wonderful festival directed by Florian Krumpöck and Nina Sengstschmid. You know how much mathias loves trains and so as soon as he has the chance to travel by train, that‘s what he does and I kept him company : ). It takes a little bit longer than an hour to get from Vienna to „Semmering“ and while driving through this incredible landscape I could very much understand why it was chosen to be world cultural heritage and at the same time summer escape for many many artists through out many many decades. When I got out of the train, I realized how much cooler it was being up here : ) and I took a couple of deep breaths. We were taken care of by Harald who took us further up the hill and straight to the one and only „Panhans“. Checking into this Hotel actually feels like time traveling...I couln‘t believe my eyes! From all the Fin de Siecle Grand Hotels it is the only one still remaining!!! And they‘ve all been there...from Brahms to Mahler...they‘ve all stayed there, slept there, had breakfast there and walked through the same walls. It felt unreal, I loved it. There was quite some time left before sound check and so I spent all of it getting to my room : )…We were told that our venue is 15 minutes walking distance but we found out that people who live there have a very different walking tempo than people like for example mathias and me : ). It took us half an hour to reach the incredible venue „Kurhaus Semmering“ and the band was already finished with setting everything up, being ready to play, ready for sound check!!!Thank you Thomas, Hans, Ingrid and Fab for preparing everything! We had a lot of time for our sound check...the room was especially beautifully and challenged us during our sound check to get used to our sound within its sound : ) but I can tell you we did (as always thank you Thomas : ) ). I will never forget this view from the stage to the three huge windows at the back of the room where I could see the green green woods and the sun go down while we were playing and traveling through Schubert and Müller‘s Winter Journey. We felt welcome from the very first moment and gave our best. Hans, Ingrid, Fabian, mathias – thank you for your music : )!!!
Nina Sengstschmid and her wonderful team took care of us through out our stay and right before we started she told me, that the audience was very very charming and friendly and let me tell you she was right : )!!!Thank you to everyone who came out last night, thank you for traveling with us, making us feel so welcome and sharing this evening with us!What an audience!!! We finished our set as night was closing in and went off stage with a big smile on our faces. I was so thirsty, got myself a beer and went back outside to get the chance and meet so many of you. (Mister Teichmann thank you for the wonderful lighting ; )!!!Thomas, Hans, Ingrid and Fab drove back to Vienna on that night. Once more they took care of everything including our Schubert statue and returned safely to the city. Up at Semmering it started to rain and thick fog crawled over the hills. Nina invited us to dinner, where we enjoyed great food with great company, thank you Pia and Gerhard Klawatsch for joining us, I am very much looking forward to seeing your photos : )!!!
The next morning I wanted to go hiking, just a little bit : ) and so I persuaded mathias to walk up to the „Pinkenkogel“, we almost got lost but found our way back to the „Panhans“ just in time...we had 10 min to catch our train...suddenly a lovely lady appeared in a wonderful dress, saved us and took us to the trainstation just in time, we jumped on the train and to be honest...I wouldn‘t have minded at all if I would have missed that train ; ) I sincerely hope to be back again, to be part within this festival full of diversity and to travel back in time once more : )!!!
Yours Lia
