THE NIGHT ADI BRAUN WAS TOO DARN HOT

THAT CANADIAN MAGAZINE

February 28, 2025

Raul Da Gama

 Concert review of Adi Braun and The Rose Orchestra. Concert also featuring a performance by Rowan Sawarna-Small

The 8th of February 2025 will be remembered not only because it was a very cold evening, but it also brought with it one of the worst storms Ontario had seen in a long time. But the night was also Too Darn Hot. The dynamic heat was generated at the Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario by none other than the celebrated Adi Braun and featured the world premiere of “Night and Day – The Orchestral Cole Porter Songbook.” The charts were arranged by pianist and composer Don Breithaupt, with The Rose Orchestra conducted by Maestro Samuel Tak-Ho Tam. It bears mention that Braun’s ‘red-hot’ ensemble also featured celebrated drummer Mark Kelso, contrabassist Pat Collins and displayed the bronzy art of jazz trumpeter William Sperandei.

If you have not yet listened to Adi Braun’s gorgeous album Night and Day – The Cole Porter Songbook, well more’s the pity. Read on…young piano genius certainly set off the fireworks for the night with an incredible performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2, Op. 18 by the prodigy Rowan-Sawarna-Small. This recital revived memories of another fabled piano concerto moment when in 1958 the legendary Van Cliburn stunned the world by winning the inaugural Tchaikovsky Piano Competition by with a [final] performance that included [among other fare] the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor, Op. 30.

Mr Sawarna-Small may not have earned the 8-minute standing ovation that Van Cliburn was given and that had everything to do with the fact that the then-23-year-old maestro won that contest at the height of the Cold War, behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain. The young prodigy certainly left the audience so breathless that uncharacteristically [for a classical music recital] after each of the three movements he was greeted by the kind of applause befitting a rock star.

Sidelong glances among the cognoscenti notwithstanding, no one really minded. After all Mr Sawarna-Small’s performance was stunning as we listened in awe to a recital characterised by broad tempi, rare poetic rhapsody and [especially in the final Allegro Scherzando Movement] freedom captured in massive and delicate tone, which came in great bolts of lightning. The pianist was ably-supported by the remarkably well-rehearsed Rose Orchestra conducted by Maestro Tak-Ho Tam.

The encore was just as lovely, when Mr Sawarna-Small gifted us with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in Eb minor, Book 1 No. 8 BWV 853. Navigating the subtle elliptical curves of one of masterworks of the great composer Mr Sawarna-Small gave another fine account of his pianism. Somehow, one suspects that one shall be hearing a lot more about this fine pianist in the not-too-distant future whether the stars align or not, although one hopes that the former is true despite his performing in one of the most hockey-mad of provinces in Canada.

The evening’s combustion continued when after a short break the stage was quickly reset to accommodate The Rose Orchestra, this time for the featured event – Adi Braun and “Night and Day – The Orchestral Cole Porter Songbook.” Once again, wee knew at once how blessed we were to spend a stormy Canadian evening indoors – this time in the presence with one of the famous stars of Weimar Cabaret as well as [most certainly] all things Cole Porter. Braun certainly had us eating out of the palm of the hand all night long.

Through the night, and through all of the ten-song- repertoire Braun proved to be the master of scene-setting, storytelling and winding up the performers for the requisite genre-bending, bring opera closer to theatre and putting on a ever-willing collision course with some of the memorable music of the so-called Great American Songbook. This was, indeed, ‘melodrama’ in the finest tradition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose Pygmalion – a collaboration with composer Horace Coignet – launched the form [in its purest form] in the 1770s.

This was no ‘hybrid’ performance – a concert ‘melodrama’ kind of performing opportunity. It was Braun showing off masterful exploitation of dramatic storytelling, acting and singing skills that brought to life the most vivid, almost-at-the-moment-of-creation of how each song came to be, then making it so personal that it appeared that Mr Porter had written this music with Adi Braun in mind.

 From the bleak crepuscular street-walking of Love for Sale, and a show-stopping banishment before the ultimate Get Out of Town to the most bittersweet renditions of What is This Thing Called Love and an ultra-seductive In The Still of The Night to the brilliant finale Night and Day suffice it to say that Adi Braun held court with the audience in the proverbial palm of the hands.

To be sure the whole evening was “too darn hot.” From the opening performance of Rachmaninoff [and Bach] by Rowan Sawarna-Small to the rousing send-up of Cole Porter by Adi Braun. If you missed the orchestral version of “Night and Day – The Orchestral Cole Porter Songbook.”… well, ‘all-the-more’s-the-pity.’ For the next time – if there is a next time – Braun deigns to present these orchestral versions of her music, run – don’t walk – to get your tickets. And better also hope that Rowan-Sawarna-Small will be around to ‘wow’ you as well.

Raul Da Gama

Based in Canada, Raul is a poet, musician and accomplished critic whose profound analysis is reinforced by his deep understanding of music, technically as well as historically.

NIGHT AND DAY - CABARET SCENES, U.S.

CABARET SCENES

NEW YORK, N.Y.

ADI BRAUN

Night and Day: The Cole Porter Songbook

July 27, 2024

Reviewed by Shannon Hunt

Albums of Cole Porter songs are hardly unique, but Adi Braun’s refreshing interpretation and expressive voice make Night and Day (The Cole Porter Songbook) stand out. Her collaboration with Emmy-winning producer and arranger Don Breithaupt, a fellow Canadian, was essential to the album’s creative choices. He revitalizes the longtime standards with sweeping strings, sultry bass, and vibrant bossa-nova beats. Classics such as “Love for Sale” and the title song are infused with a Latin flair that serves as a playful backdrop to Braun’s lush, unhurried vocals. She takes her time and savors each delicious note.

Braun is backed by some illustrious jazz musicians, including bassist Pat Collins, drummer Mark Kelso, and guitarist Justin Abedin. A stand-out horn section triumphs on several songs, such as Phil Dwyer’s striking solo on tenor sax in “Just One of Those Things” and William Sperandei’s bewitching trumpet in “In the Still of the Night.”

The album glides effortlessly between soft ballads and up-tempo, toe-tapping hits. In this, her sixth album, Braun shows herself to be a seasoned pro. With each song, she highlights the genius of Porter’s words while emoting the carefree abandonment, the sultry longing, and the emotional gut punch of his music.

Her biggest challenge, she said, was narrowing the choice of the hundreds of songs Porter had written down to just 10. After listening to the album, one can only hope she finds the time to select and record 10 more of them.

NIGHT AND DAY

The Whole Note April/May 2024

Adi Braun - Night and Day – The Cole Porter Songbook

Alma Records ACD91532 (almarecords. com) 

Backed by Don Breithaupt’s gargantuan arrangements, Adi Braun’s endlessly expressive voice embodies the world of every lyric, her choice of Cole Porter repertoire helps to weave a compelling thematic narrative and her gracefully imaginative phrasing refracts off the pristine orchestration to create a warm, celestial glow. Breithaupt’s orchestra in all of its exuberance and luster, seems to exist for Braun’s effortlessly unhurried time feel to envelope it; these two forces’ moments of impalpable coalescence feeling like proximity to a subdued fireplace, where nearness is best paired with the faintest layer of distance. In terms of the success of this symbiotic razor’s-edge dance, it would be tempting to say that credit goes to Breithaupt for not crowding Braun’s frequencies (and credit is certainly due as Breithaupt cultivates sweet, colourful, lush orchards of sound), but it is Braun who is largely playing both the mindful accompanist and driver of mood.

Just One of those Things kicks off with an adrenaline shot of an upright bass intro courtesy of Pat Collins and the sheer steadfast vigour of his tone, with the strings resonating at a frequency that could slice right through the fingerboard. Braun finds herself occupying the space in the decay within each note Collins hammers out, nearing a whisper while staying just detached enough to allow the bass line to act as a buoy for our monologue of ephemeral affiliations. Then the extravaganza returns and Braun finds a renewed purpose for those gaps.

Yoshi Mclear Wall

NIGHT AND DAY

November 10, 2023 / JAZZ FUN DE

jazz-fun`s recap:

By Jacek Brun

German:

“Diese Klassiker sind immer schön anzuhören, besonders wenn sie so gut interpretiert werden. Jedes der sanft dahinfließenden Lieder hat etwas Besonderes. Dynamische Themen wechseln sich mit ruhigen Balladen ab. Großartige Diktion, treffsichere Intonation und eine berührende Frische in der Stimme sind vielleicht Adi Brauns größtes Kapital. Das ganze Album ist von einer Aura der Melancholie umgeben, aber diese Stimmung kann viele Schattierungen annehmen, je nach der eigenen Einstellung. Ein großartiges Album”.

English:

“Classics are always wonderful to listen to, especially when they are interpreted as beautifully as here.  Each one of these smoothly flowing songs has something special. Dynamic themes are interchanged with soft ballads.  Fantastic diction, excellent intonation and a deeply moving freshness are perhaps Adi Braun’s greatest assets.  The entire album is surrounded by an aura of melancholy, but this mood can have many shades of expression, depending on one’s own moods.  A great album.”

NIGHT AND DAY

THAT CANADIAN MAGAZINE

Night and Day: Adi Braun

November 21, 2023

By Raul Da Gama

Adi Braun is no longer a singer of great promise, she is already a great artist – like her father Victor Braun, her younger brother Russell Braun – as fine a baritone, some would say, as his father. Her 2023 disc Night and Day – The Cole Porter Songbook proves this, and how versatile she is, not just with Berlin noir in the great tradition of Marlene Dietrich and latterly Ute Lemper, but also American standards, which have been done to death, but [as with this repertoire – familiar and interestingly rare – from the pen of Cole Porter] have been resurrected in the grand manner by Ms Braun.

As with her other discs – notably her stunning 2017disc Moderne Frau, a celebration of Kurt Weill [among others] – Ms Braun reveals herself to be an artist of the first order, broadening out from the Berlin Noir repertory for which she is best known. Her instrument is gorgeous; lustrous, precise, and feather-light. Her musicianship is fierce as she digs into the expression of each word, brings ceaseless variety to soft dynamics, and gives every phrase grace.

For instance, Mr Porter may have written I’ve Got You Under My Skin for the film Born to Dance, but when Ms Braun breathes in and then exhales, with glorious control of the diaphragm the lyrics like gleaming vapour, you might easily be led to believe that Mr Porter had written the song with Ms Braun in mind, to sing it one hundred years later. Likewise, in her singing based firmly in legato – her liquid legato, to be precise – she seems to glide from the outside into Night and Day. And she does likewise with each of the eight other songs on this marvellous album.

Everywhere Ms Braun lays down a marker of sensitivity and technical adroitness. She delivers all the music the challenging harmonies and tricky intervals of which are raptly encompassed. Ms Braun always sounds as if singing is her most natural mode of expression, exhibiting a gleamingly blended tonal quality and an articulate engagement with the songs’ lyrics. All of this she does so in such a manner that one suspects that Mr Porter – indeed, even the great Alec Wilder – would both be right royally pleased.

Ms Braun is in great company here.

Every performer is fully attuned to her vision and artistry. Special mention needs to be made of the inimitable Phil Dwyer who solos on tenor saxophone brilliantly on Just One of Those Things, as does trumpeter William Sperandei on Night and Day. One would be remiss if one did not acknowledge that pianist Don Breithaupt has much to do with the letter-perfect arrangements – using the horns brilliantly and employing the string accompaniments just where they should be so as to make for the luscious elegance of the production.

All of this, of course, makes for a disc to die for.

Deo gratis…

MODERNE FRAU - JAZZ/CABARET IN BERLIN

In her high-octane performance Adi Braun, along with her excellent trio, pays musical homage to the fearless women of the Weimar era.  Her program MODERNE FRAU reveals why she – a Canadian with German roots – admires such female singers as Blandine Ebinger, Kate Kühl, Margo Lion and Trude Hesterberg. Braun re-imagines the music of these greats with fresh and bold jazz stylings…and thanks to her training as a classical singer every note and gesture resonates perfectly within these songs.  With crystal-clear diction she recalls the declamatory style of these much admired “diseuses”.  This is particularly evident in songs like Kurt Weill’s “SURABAYA JOHNNY”, “NANNAS LIED” and “UND WAS BEKAM DES SOLDATEN WEIB?”. 

Adi Braun sings with a wide vocal range that moves freely between jazz, scat, opera and chanson.  She was brilliantly supported by the phenomenal TOM KING at the piano, the sensitive undulations of ROBIN DRAGANIC on bass and Tilman Person on drums.

Kerstin Schweiger

IOCO Kultur im Netz

Berlin, March 12, 2019

ADI BRAUN - MODERNE FRAU

IL POPOLO DEL BLUES

·        Programma radio

Recensioni

Adi Braun – Moderne Frau

3 GIUGNO 2018 by MICHELE MANZOTTI in DISCHI, RECENSIONI

(Produzione indipendente)

www.adibraun.com

Questo è un progetto che viaggia sulle due sponde dell’Atlantico. Precisamente tra il Canada, paese di nascita della cantante, e la Germania. Adi Braun ha condotto una ricerca sul repertorio della Repubblica di Weimar dove il cabaret e l’opera di Kurt Weill convivevano in uno spirito musicale poi travolto da nazismo e guerra. La solista ha raccolto brani di quell’epoca accompagnandoli da brani originali dando al disco una chiave di lettura legata al jazz. Braun ha chiamato intorno a sé un gruppo di eccellenti musicisti a partire dal trio formato dal pianista Tom King, dal bassita Pat Collins e dal batterista Daniel Barnes per tredici tracce cantante in inglese e tedesco. Tra le riproposte segnaliamo Surabaya Johhny e It Never Was You, mentre fra gli originali la traccia titolo e Josephine. La voce autorevole e duttile di Adi Braun completa l’ottima qualità del progetto.

Michele Manzotti

English translation:

This is a project that travels on both sides of the Atlantic. Precisely between Canada, the birthplace of the singer, and Germany. Adi Braun conducted research on the repertoire of the Weimar Republic, where Kurt Weill's cabaret and opera coexisted in a musical spirit that was then overwhelmed by Nazism and war. The soloist has collected songs from that era, accompanying them with original songs, which gives the record a jazz interpretation. Braun has collected around her a group of excellent musicians starting from the trio formed by the pianist Tom King, the bassist Pat Collins and the drummer Daniel Barnes for thirteen tracks sung in English and German. Among the reworked tracks, we highlight Surabaya Johnny and It Never Was You, while among the originals, the title track and Josephine. The authoritative and flexible voice of Adi Braun completes the excellent quality of the project.

Michele Manzotti (English translation Aspasia Dassios)

LA JAZZ SCENE CD REVIEW - MODERNE FRAU

April 3, 2018

The German cabaret scene of the 1920s was unique. Inhibitions and restrictions of the past were set aside in freewheeling stage performances that broke new boundaries in self-expression, morality and music. Sandwiched between World War I. and the rise of the Nazis in 1933, it was a period that, at least onstage, was full of wild performances and rare outbursts of freedom.

Adi Braun, a superior jazz singer from Canada, pays tribute to that doomed era with a colorful set of music that includes lyrics by (among others) Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Hammerstein, Ogden Nash, Maxwell Anderson and (on three songs) herself. Ranging (as she says in the liner notes) from murder ballads to prostitute songs, the music celebrates the “modern woman” of the era. “Speak Low,” “Mack The Knife,” “I’m A Stranger Here Myself” and Maxwell Anderson’s “It Never Was You” are included along with lesser-known tunes and Braun’s “Moderne Frau.” There is also a tribute to Josephine Baker (“Josephine”) that has the rhythm section (led by pianist Tom King) joined by three horns.

Throughout Moderne Frau, Adi Braun sounds very much at home expressing herself in a wide variety of emotions, from joy to “let’s make the best of it” sorrow. It makes for an intriguing and memorable set of rarely-heard music and is available form www.adibraun.com .

Scott Yanow

ADI BRAUN'S "MODERNE FRAU" - POLITCIALLY POTENT CABARET

Concert Report: Adi Braun’s Moderne Frau – politically potent cabaret

Written by Colin Story

Category: Concert Reports

Published: 13 December 2017

Watching vocalist Adi Braun take the stage at the Jazz Bistro on the evening of December 10 – beneath the bejewelled chandeliers, vaulting mezzanine and crushed velvet curtains – it was difficult to think of a more appropriate setting for the club launch of Moderne Frau, Braun’s new release on Blue Rider Records. Moderne Frau is a project that seeks to both honour and recontextualize the experiences of the women of Weimar Germany – “the original pantsuit nation,” as Braun joked to a responsive (and full) house. Like the Bistro itself, Braun’s performance of Moderne Frau evokes the charms of a bygone era, but its true success lies in her ability to move the music forward into the twenty-first century.

The concert proceeded according to the album order, beginning with the title track (a Braun original), which featured Braun ably trading scat lines with her excellent band. “Surabaya Johnny,” one of a number of songs on the program written by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, was given a medium-slow, straight-eighths treatment that allowed for nuanced interplay between Braun and pianist Tom King. Braun has excellent vocal control and a wide dynamic range, and has a particularly expressive upper register, which was on full display during the haunting, quiet ending of the song. “Buddy on the Night Shift” – another Weill piece, written with Oscar Hammerstein – is introduced with reference to the large influx of women into the workforce after World War I. As the song’s “buddies” are not gendered, Braun makes the fair point that we can just as easily imagine that they are women, rather than men, aligning the song’s lyrical content with the overarching themes of the evening.

One of the evening’s most compelling musical moments came in the introduction to “Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?” (“And What Did the Soldier’s Wife Get?”). Another Weill/Brecht composition, the song’s lyrics detail the successive gifts that a soldier’s wife receives from her husband during his military service; the final gift is a widow’s veil. The introduction – an open, intimate voice/piano duet between Braun and King that suggested more of American jazz in the 1960s than of European cabaret in the 1920s – created a space in which the two musicians persuasively limned the simultaneous intensity and aimlessness of grief, pulling the music apart before putting it back together at the beginning of the form.

Braun’s original composition “Josephine” was a crowd favourite, eliciting much applause and no small amount of laughter (it was performed twice, the second time as an encore). Written about the American expat singer Josephine Baker, who gained fame and notoriety in the 1920s as a star cabaret performer in Paris’s Folies Bergère, “Josephine” was a swinging, up-tempo piece of musical biography, featuring Braun at peak theatricality (a slide whistle plays a key role). Though the song’s amusing flourishes may seem, at first listen, to be standard bits of cabaret fun, they are girded by the seriousness of its subject: a young woman of colour who left an oppressive America to find a measure of financial and political freedom on the stages of Europe. As such, the song’s exuberance takes on a kind of moral imperative that exemplifies the ethos of Moderne Frau: that the performative nature of cabaret could, and can, illuminate a path towards self-actualization for women living in inequitable social circumstances, and that joyful performance can be a serious and important political act.

Adi Braun’s Club Launch of Moderne Frau took place on December 10 at The Jazz Bistro in Toronto, featuring Braun (vocals, slide whistle, squeeze horn) alongside Tom King (piano), Tony Quarrington (guitar, banjo), Pat Collins (bass), Daniel Barnes (drums), Joe Macerollo (accordion), Max Forster (trumpet), Conrad Gluch (saxophone, clarinet) and Zach Smith (trombone).

Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer, and teacher based in Toronto. He can be reached through his website, on Instagram and on Twitter.

ADI BRAUN- MODERNE FRAU

MODERNE FRAU – ADI BRAUN

the Whole Note Magazine

Written by Raul da Gama

Published: 28 November 2017

 Perhaps Adi Braun is playing to her strengths on Moderne Frau. But rarely is the seduction of Weimar Berlin cabaret been performed with a sassier va-va-voom and oomph than on the 13 songs of this recording. Now that could well be due in part to the outstanding musicians on the album, but there is nothing whatsoever that can outshine Braun’s luminously sung performance. Clearly Braun’s redemptive gods are Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and she makes every gesture count meaningfully on this disc, where biting satire and burlesque meet outrageously colourful art song.

Certainly the music speaks in a special way to Braun. She reveals their secrets in seductive whispers; there is a burning lust for life played out in these lyrics, especially in the music of Brecht and Weill, but Moderne Frau, the title track (her own compositon), is also an outstanding example of her creativity, as is Speak Low from the pen of Weill and Ogden Nash.

Braun clearly revels in the intensity of the songs’ drama and it is this aspect of the disc that spotlights her vocals throughout. The vocalist’s larger-than-life persona is also a perfect fit for this repertoire and she isn’t afraid to push it to its limits either. The results are often more beautiful and nuanced than expected. The edgiest moments come in Mackie Messer, perhaps the defining moment on the entire disc, closely followed by the bittersweet tenderness of It Never Was You.

ADI BRAUN - THOROUGHLY MODERNE IN HER SMASHING NEW DISC

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO

October 25, 2017

Joseph So

Moderne Frau CD Launch. Adi Braun, vocalist; Tom King (piano); Pat Collins (bass); Daniel Barnes (drums & percussion); Tony Quarrington (banjo and guitar); Joseph Macerollo (accordion); Brad Eaton (trumpet); Conrad Gluch (saxophone and clarinet); Zach Smith (trombone). Temerty Theatre, Royal Conservatory of Music. 7 p.m. October 22, 2017.

For keen observers of the Canadian music scene, the Braun name represents a prominent musical family. The late Victor Braun was a distinguished operatic bass-baritone with an international career spanning four decades. His wife, Eraine Schwing Braun, is a mezzo and former German diction coach at the COC.  Their son, Russell Braun, is a preeminent baritone of our time, recently scoring a huge triumph in the title role of Louis Riel.

And then there is Adreana Braun, the daughter, better known as Adi the jazz vocalist. Toronto born, Adi spent her childhood years in Germany. She studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. As a classically trained soprano, Adi sang in operas and operettas before transitioning to popular music, establishing herself as one of Canada’s premiere jazz and cabaret singers. She succeeded her mother as the COC German coach, and she’s also on the faculty of the RCM.

A prolific recording artist, this newly released CD, Moderne Frau, is her fifth, and her second with a few of her own songs. I’ve been a fan of Adi since her first album, Delishious (2003). I’ve always been impressed by her stylish vocalism, her uncommon expressive range and emotional depth, not to mention a technical security that underscores her classical training. If you’re new to Adi, do check her out on Youtube.

This past Sunday marked the launch of her new CD, Moderne Frau, at the intimate (if rather anonymous) space known as the Temerty Theatre in RCM.  The full house got a tantalizing taste of her new disc. It’s dedicated to women of the Weimar Republic in Germany during the interwar years, focusing on Berlin. It features the music of Kurt Weill, Friedrich Holländer, Mischa Spoliansky, and three of Adi’s own compositions.

Weill is of course well known to opera fans — his Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera hover on the fringes of the standard repertoire. And he also composed lots of film music and Broadway in his later years, after he moved to America from Nazi Germany.  Adi is backed up by no less than nine musicians, including the veteran Tony Quarrington (brother to Joel, the former principal bass of the COC and TSO) on the banjo and guitar.

What can I say about the disc?  Franky, I love it! Adi’s highly polished, light and breezy style is just the right sound for both easy listening — or if you prefer, an intense listening session. When she turns serious, there’s irony aplenty, as in “Gestern” (her own song) or “Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib.” But her style generally is lighter and less tragic than that of Teresa Stratas, whose two discs are my gold standards the last thirty years.

The first track of Moderne Frau is the title song by the same name, penned by Braun and sung in German — very Kabarett in style, a tribute to Weimar in 1920s. Another Adi original, “Josephine,” is a nod to the redoubtable Josephine Baker, who also spent time in Berlin. What a great tune, with terrific arrangement and backup vocals.  I dare say this track is going to be a big hit. Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. If you are like me, looking for the occasional foray from the heaviness of Wagner and Shostakovich, this disc is the ideal tonic. Highly recommended.

Adi Braun’s Moderne Frau is available at iTunes. 

ADI BRAUN, THE MODERNE FRAU

Sept 18, 2017

Schmopera Online Blog

Jenna Simeonov

Canadian jazz and cabaret singer Adi Braun has released her fifth album, Adi Braun - Moderne Frau, which pays impressive homage to the unmistakable music of Weimar Berlin. Between the two World Wars (1918-1933), Berlin was a buzzing place for the arts and sciences, for intellectuals and innovators; the cabaret scene was strong, and largely fuelled by women.

In Moderne Frau, Braun features the music of leading German composers Kurt Weill, Franz Grothe, and Mischa Spoliansky; also on the album are three original songs, all of which are catchy, touching, and uncannily stylish. Braun and her band have fun with this music, and it's hard to turn down a chance to hear a new voice bringing to life classics like "Mack the Knife", "Speak Low", and "Surabaya Johnny".

Ahead of her CD launch concert on October 22, 7:30pm at the RCM's Temerty Theatre, we spoke with Braun about the familiar political climate that inspired this music, and her fascination with the women of Weimar cabaret.

Why have you been so drawn to Weimar cabaret?

The Weimar era (1918 – 1933) was filled with great societal and artistic daring. For a relatively short period, Germans were freed from the constraints and censorship of the Wilhelmine Regime which had preceded this epoch. This freedom and emancipation of a people was felt in all sectors of life but most profoundly in the world of the arts. When I researched this era, I was astounded to find that women stood at the forefront of a unique movement and became trailblazers for the generations of female artists that would follow.

In German cabaret there was a push to offer songs that had strong social as well as artistic implications, often being very critical of the times. Composers, lyricists and performers worked closely together in order to create bold new works that were meant to elicit strong reactions from the public. There were many types of cabarets…socio-political ones, those that had more of a vaudevillian content, comedy cabarets and many others. Female vocalists were not only stars on cabaret stages but also had central roles behind the scenes as cabaret owners and managers, which was unthinkable before this time.

How do your original songs fit in with the musical and social aesthetic of the selections by Weill, Grothe & Spoliansky?

My title song Moderne Frau was inspired by the new advances that women experienced during the Weimar era and is laced with a good dose of humour. Josephine is dedicated to the great Josephine Baker who had become a big star in France and then Germany (Berlin) during the Weimar era as well. After being dismissed in her home country she found new footing and great admirers abroad. Her uninhibited performing style was a liberating experience for women who saw her on stage. Gestern is dedicated to forbidden love during Nazi Germany and tells of an imagined love story between a German non-Jewish woman and a German Jewish woman. In the advance of the Nazi regime during the early 1930's such a relationship would have been impossible to sustain.

Where do you think the unique sounds and materials of Weimar cabaret songs come from? How difficult is it to "recreate" that in a 21st-century environment?

Very good question. Any form of art is always influenced by the socio-political climate of its time. Certainly the freedom gained by the abolishing of the strict Wilhelmine regime was one part in creating a much more liberal and fertile ground for artistic expression. Yet with the rise of the Nazis artists saw and feared what was to come and expressed this in their works of art. The courage that performers had to give these often very risqué songs life is admirable.

I see quite a few parallels in our current political climate …extremism is on the rise and many people in this world still suffer from oppression. Sadly the struggle for freedom and equality is age-old and an ever repeating theme.

What are you most proud of in Moderne Frau?

So many things…top of the list would be the amazing creative collaboration I had with all of my musicians on the CD. Everyone had an open musical mind at all times and everyone brought the most wondrous musical gifts to this project. I am proud to have added three of my original songs to the mix and am planning on writing many more Weimar-inspired songs to perhaps one day create a musical.

Adi Braun brings to life former powerhouses

WhatsOn Aug 05, 2015 by Paige Phillips Parry Sound North Star

PARRY SOUND – On the eve of the civic long weekend, the Charles W. Stockey Centre was visited by three ghosts – or so it seemed.

On Friday evening, Adi Braun took to the Stockey stage to present “An Evening with Rosie, Judy, and Peggy!” as part of a performance for the Festival of the Sound’s 36th season. The performance paid tribute to three of the leading ladies of the 20th Century, Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, and Peggy Lee.

“Throughout tonight you will hear songs that were signature songs for each of them and then some songs that a particular artist made famous,” said Braun.

Braun began the evening with her own rendition of Old Devil Moon, a song that was recorded by all three women – on Lee’s 1959 album Jump for Joy, Garland’s 1960 album That’s Entertainment!, and Clooney’s 1998 album accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra At Long Last.

This hit was merely the first of many that were met with bobbing heads and tapping toes from the captivated audience, while others simply closed their eyes and felt the rhythm of the music.  

Braun requested some participation from the audience in a number of the pieces, including Lee’s You Gotta Have Heart and Fever, in which the audience snapped along to the melody.  

The Charles W. Stockey Centre has been described as an intimate venue by staff and audience members alike, a statement made obvious at Friday night’s performance, as Braun approached individuals seated in the orchestra along either side of the stage. Throughout various pieces, Braun danced her way over into close proximity of attendees, where they received their own personal performance.

Braun also dedicated one piece to her mother, who was in the audience, The Party’s Over, a song recorded by both Lee and Garland in 1959 and 1960 respectfully. Braun revealed to the audience that the song was a “big hit” of her mother’s, singing it while she was growing up in Germany, comments which were met with a glowing smile from her mother. Braun concluded the piece with, “I love you, mom,” while her mother, beaming, gently touched her chest and blew a kiss in Braun’s direction.

Stockey Centre

At least one member of the band had previously visited Parry Sound and performed at the Charles W. Stockey Centre. Daniel Barnes, who played the drums at Friday evening’s performance, revealed that he has a cottage in Muskoka and was somewhat familiar with the larger area. Barnes had also previously performed at the Stockey Centre earlier this year in June.

“I was here in June actually and performed Stand By Me: The Music of the Brill Building,” said Barnes. “We were pleasantly surprised when we showed up in June. It is a beautiful venue – a first class theatre.” Barnes is among the many performers who dub the Stockey Centre an “intimate” venue as he said that it feels like some audience members are right on the stage with him.

Braun echoed Barnes’ thoughts on the Stockey Centre, dubbing it “Ontario’s most beautiful theatre” with a “gorgeous stage” and “gorgeous sound” for which she thanked the sound crew in addition to thanking the audience for attending the evening’s performance.

Braun concluded the evening with a piece featuring some awe-inspiring whistling, which was met with some of the audience’s own whistling, cheers, and a standing ovation.

“It was a wonderful performance,” said attendee Sarah Glatt from Orillia. “I loved it – every minute.” Sarah’s husband, Ben, echoed his wife’s sentiments towards the evening’s performance.

“It was sensitive and most emotional,” said Ben. “And it was very intimate. We were basically on the stage looking out at the audience.”

The Glatts viewed the performance from one of the orchestra seats located directly to the right of the stage and were able to have an up-close view of Barnes playing the drums. Ben said that the two are supporters of many festivals and venues and are staunch supporters of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

Paul Emond and his wife, who had traveled from Muskoka for the Friday performance, missed the first five minutes of the show due to a wrong turn but thoroughly enjoyed the show. Emond described the evening as “wonderful, inspiring, uplifting, and fabulous.”

The Festival’s 36th season comes to a wrap this weekend with the Opera Gala on Saturday evening and Rising Stars on Sunday afternoon.

For information on other Festival events, including ticket sales, visit: www.festivalofthesound.ca