The Bonn Players – New Production

The Bonn Players`30th anniversary year will be rounded off with a production of one of G. B. Shaw`s initially most controversial, but now classic plays, the comedy Mrs Warren´s Profession. Read more

Popularity: 9% [?]

Museumsmile Festival on Memory Lane

I caught this lady drummer onstage at the Museumsmile Festival in Bonn this weekend, without the regulation drummers short sleeved ‘muscle shirt’ and sneakers.

‘Die Madämchen’ are a Ladies Chamber Orchestra that was founded in 1984 in Cologne by Dorota Lesch.  Their musical roots are in Chicago Ragtime so maybe I am slipping in a plug for something Bluesy in here again.  A little different though all the same.

Altogether much of the music on offer at this years Museumsmile Festival was a trip down memory lane for anyone from the 1930′s upwards. Robert Kreis with highlights from his travelling Chanson Show.  Witty songs from a time when innocence was a challenge for many a songwriter.  If you couldn’t write about Sex directly then you could write about the size of your cactus and your Beau’s poodle.   As Kreis, Javan born but living in Holland sadly concluded, 80% of the writers and performers were Jewish and the Nazi Regime all but destroyed the genre.

Robert Kreis

Down the road a little at the ‘Haus der Geschichte’ there was modern music.  Well, comparatively speaking anyway.  The Band ‘Fun’ were playing hits from the sixties (although I suspect Dell Shannon’s ‘Runaway’ even clips into the fifties).  The black suits and string ties were as much a fashion statement of the times as the feather boas on the heads of ‘Die Madämchen’ and the same love of the music was plain to see in the faces of the performers.

‘Fun’ going back to the Sixties – yeah, yeah, yeah!

So my weekend reminded me that good music never dies, and never will as long as people like these love it enough to keep it alive.

Long may that continue to be the case and thank you all. Ladies & Gentlemen for your abilities and your enthusiasm for our musical heritage!

Popularity: 25% [?]

Bonn Expat meeting

Bonn Expat meets on the second Wednesday evening of every month in ‘Brauhaus Bönnsch’ which is easily reached in Bonn City Centre.  For english speaking visitors this is an excellent opportunity to meet up with others living in the area and make new contacts, as well as having a relaxing drink after a hard days work of course!

Click on the image below for more details:

Popularity: 12% [?]

Jazz in April

The latest events calender is now available for Jazz fans living in the Bonn area. The Riverside Jazzmen, Papa Joes Jazzmen, the Fraser Gartshore trio and many more are playing at a venue near you.

For further details just click on the following link:

Jazz Calender March to find out exactly where and when.

Popularity: 12% [?]

St Patricks Day

St Patrick is Ireland’s patron saint, credited with helping to bring christianity to Ireland and driving away all the snakes.. there are no snakes in Ireland but back in pagan times, during the 4th century, serpent symbols were common  and often worshipped  so driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. It is believed that 17th March is the day that St. Patrick died and  a national holiday in Ireland.   Being a religious holiday as well, many Irish attend mass, where March 17th is the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries worldwide before the serious celebrating begins.

The Irish are now spread out all over the world and taken their traditions with them. In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick’s Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, “wearing of the green,” music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green!

St Patricks Day Party at  Fiddlers Irish Pub, Bonn-Endenich

“No strangers here .. just friends you haven’t met!” – Brendan Behan

www.fiddlers-bonn.com festivities starts 19 hrs – wear something green or bring a shamrock or come dressed as a lepruchan or pot of gold!!

Popularity: 11% [?]

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

The Bonn Players are pleased to announce that their Autumn production will be

“The Importance of Being Earnest”

by Oscar Wilde.

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most enduringly popular play and is regarded by many as the funniest  play in the English language, brimming with brilliant wit  and full of hilarious `laugh-out-loud` dialogue which scathingly satirises the morals and hypocrisy of late Victorian society.  It is a unique fusion of a melodrama and a classic comedy of manners with the absurdity of the plot matched by the exquisite cleverness of the writing. The play is still performed frequently around the English-speaking world and is a favourite among German audiences under the title “Bunbury”

Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrief are wealthy gentlemen.  Jack lives a respectable life in the country providing an example to his young ward Cecily. But he has invented a wicked younger brother called Ernest who lives in London. Jack uses Ernest as pretext for going up to town, where he pretends to be the wayward Ernest and enjoys a life of pleasure. Algernon, his friend, who knows Jack as Ernest, lives in luxury in London and has invented an imaginary invalid friend (Bunbury) whom he visits in the country whenever an unappealing social engagement presents itself.

Jack wants to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen, whom he has met while masquerading in London as Ernest. The beautiful but shallow Gwendolen accepts his proposal because she has always wanted to marry someone with the name of Ernest. Jack`s predicament is made worse by having to convince her mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell, of the respectability of his parents. Having been abandoned in a handbag at railway station, this is quite a difficult task for Jack!

Unknown to Jack, Algernon visits Jack’s house in the country and introduces himself to the enchanting Cecily as Ernest, knowing that Cecily is already fascinated by tales of Ernest’s wickedness. He wins her over and they become engaged – although Cecily, like Gwendolen, also feels that Ernest is the perfect name for a husband!  Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest’s death. This sets off a series of farcical events. Cecily and Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of them has a prior claim on ‘Ernest’. Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell’s sister and brother-in-law and that he is, in fact, Algernon’s older brother, called Ernest. The two sets of lovers are thus free to marry.

During these events the characters of Canon Chasuble and Cecily’s governess Miss Prism have also fallen in love, and in the best tradition of the well-made play the story ends with all the loose ends tied up and everyone set to live happily ever after.

Shortly after the play premiered in 1895, Wilde initiated his famous libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury – the ultimate result of which was Wilde being jailed for two years.  He wrote no more plays and died in 1900, a broken man. “Earnest” is Wilde’s masterpiece, but also the swan song of the Wilde the world loves

The play will be performed in English at the

Stiftstheater Augustinum,

Roemerstrasse 118, Bonn

November 16th, 17 ^th, 18 ^th, 19th & 20 ^th

Adults 12 € Students 8 €

Box Office: Weekdays November 3^rd – 19^th 16:00 – 18:00

Tel: 0228 9562398  Fax: 0228 9562401   Email;   bonnplayers@aol.com

Popularity: 21% [?]

The Bonn Players

Those of you who enjoyed the spectacular and very entertaining Last of the Red Hot Lovers will be delighted to know that plans for the autumn production are already under way  for The Importance of Being Earnest.  Auditions took place in June.  Details about this next production, the play reading group,  other forthcoming events, as well as how to join the Bonn Players can be found here:

BONN PLAYERS WEBSITE

Popularity: 48% [?]

Sommergarten 2010

Summer is here again and so are the KAH rooftop ‘Sommergarten’ Concerts.  Well okay, Summer isn’t quite here, and the rooftop was too windy, but there was a concert beside the KAH – Thomas Gerdiken delivered New Orleans jazz not just by the music – he also brought with him a very talented young trumpet player from the City’s University.

In 2008, to celebrate the 80th Birthday of Louis Armstrong, Thomas Gerdiken travelled to New Orleans.  He returned, not just with souvenirs and memories but also with contacts in the Jazz world and a desire to help the City in the wake of 2005’s Katrina hurricane.

These connections led to a very special guest on Sunday:  Terry Steve Gibson Junior is just 18, but he recently won a ‘SEEKING SATCH’ Event by the French Quarter Festival.  There was stiff competition to follow in the giant footsteps of Louis Armstrong but Gibson won through, and rightfully so given his performance at the KAH.

Robin Ligon-Williams was also on hand to tell us a little about the University of New Orleans Jazz programme who arranged the Competition where she is the Director.

And of course there was plenty of New Orleans Jazz from Gerdiken and his very able Fats Domino Tribute Band, rounded off finally by a mini conga of musicians blasting out ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’.  Good news too is that you can sleep in an hour more this year – the Rooftop shows now start at 11pm.

It’s looking good for another great Sommergarten Season.  Now all we need is good weather.  I hope God is a Jazz fan.

SOMMERGARTEN SEASON 2010

13 June      The Queen Kings (Queen Tribute)

27 June      Seis del Son (Salsa)

11 July        Le Clou  (Cajun)

25 July       Engelbert Wrobel’s Swing Society (Jazz)

08 August  Motownhead (Soul)

22 August  Stable Roof Jazz Band (Jazz)

All 11am to 2pm.

KAH Roof, Museumsmile or nearby depending on the weather

Popularity: 31% [?]

Frauen De Formation

Visitors to the Deutsche Post Tower could easily miss the little figures set out in the grass outside since March 2007.  Each one is a couple of feet high and they form a circle in the lawn before the underground carpark.

This rather striking exhibition is the work of Kiel born ‘Action Artist/Sculptor’  Tina Schwichtenberg.
It consists of a circle of female sculptures. Each one is identical in size and shape but each shows a different character, whether it be via clothes, accessories or even deformity – hence the slightly macabre name of the exhibition. The ceramic and bronze models began in 1988 with the first based on Schwichtenberg’s daughter and now number over a hundred figures although only a selection are on display in Bonn. They include a nun and a punk plus others entitled cobra, gas mask and even would you believe Nobel Prize winning Günther Grass.

Frauen de Formation Website

Popularity: 23% [?]

Open House at Bonn International School Thursday 25 February 2010

Thursday 25 February 2010 from 8.30 – 12.00

The Bonn International School Open House is a great opportunity for visitors to come and see the school in action. Classes at all grade levels will be open for observation. Visitors are encouraged to sit in on a variety of classes and age groups to see what makes education at BIS special.

Bonn International School is an independent, full-day school offering a comprehensive English Language education and low student-teacher ratios for children aged 3 – 19 years. Located directly next to the River Rhine in a modern, well-equipped facility, BIS hosts over 570 students from more than 60 countries.

Visitors should register at admissions@bonn-is.de in advance of Open House. You will be asked to present formal identification e.g. passport or driver’s license before entering the school.

Availability of future places varies from grade to grade and the Admissions Coordinator should be consulted regarding potential enrolments. There are however a definite number of places available for international students in Early Learning, Grades 1, 4, and 10 starting August 2010.

For more information, please contact the Admissions Coordinator at 0228 30854151 or visit www.bonn-is.de

Popularity: 20% [?]

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