Guest Artist Bio
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester
Max Raabe vocals
Cecilia Crisafulli violin
Thomas Huder trumpet, vocals
Michael Enders trumpet, vocals
Jörn Ranke trombone, viola, vocals
Bernd Frank tenor sax, clarinet
Johannes Ernst alto sax, clarinet
Sven Bährens alto sax, clarinet
Rainer Fox baritone saxophone
Vincent Riewe drums, percussion
Bernd Hugo Dieterich bass, sousaphone
Ulrich Hoffmeier guitar, banjo, violin
Ian Wekwerth piano
Founded by the charismatic baritone Max Raabe, Max Raabe & Palast Orchester embodies the high style of the 1920s and ‘30s. They’ve been heard by adoring audiences in the New York, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo and other major cites around the world. This evening’s concert is their Portland debut.
Raabe captures this timeless music with precision, urgency and irony. He has a singular ability to capture the cunning rasp of the cabaret singer, the confident bel canto hero, the oily melodiousness of the revue beau and the carefree timbre of early jazz, as well as the falsetto of ragtime, all backed by his stellar 12-member band, many of whom have been with him from the beginning.
Raabe's art lies in revealing the enigmatic intelligence, ambiguity, musical power and complexity of the "German chansons" from the turbulent Weimar Republic. In his amazing performances he keenly reminds us that between melancholy and irony, rebellion and resignation, elegy and slapstick there is often only half a measure, sometimes just a single note or a mere word.
Immediately following their world-premiere concert at Berlin's Theaterball in 1987, they were met with thunderous enthusiasm and started to tour. Based in Berlin, the Palast Orchester performs roughly 30 concerts a year in their home city at the Berliner Waldbühne and the Admiralspalast, and it enjoys regular invitations to such esteemed festivals and concert halls as Vienna Festival, Concertgebouew in Amsterdam, Montreaux Jazz Festival and elsewhere throughout Europe and Asia.
"It's supposed to be elegant, tasteful nonsense," Raabe says of the Palast Orchester. "I liked the idea of standing on stage in elegant tails with the orchestra and celebrating such strong language as "Schwein" (pig) and "Sau" (swine). It was an elegant way of snubbing. It was supposed to be a one-time gag."
More information online: palastorchester.de