Cabaret Bloff

Steve Dummer

clarinet

Sarah Gabriel

Soprano

Stephen Higgins

piano

Soprano Sarah Gabriel, pianist Stevie Higgins, and clarinettist Steve Dummer re-live the golden age of cabaret: the songs of ebullient, febrile, decadent and subversive Berlin in the Weimar era of the 1920s and 30s, where artistes in underground nightclubs dissected the political maelstrom in the streets above. The legacy of the endlessly inventive composers and performers lives on, sinuously transforming song across Europe and on Broadway too, although many of the composers themselves – seen as ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis – did not survive the war that followed.

To include songs by Kurt Weill,  Mischa Spoliansky, Friedrich Hollaender and Erwin Schulhoff

Click on link at the bottom of the page to buy a ticket!

Bio: Sarah Gabriel

Described by Le Monde as ‘As fine an actress as she is a singer,’ soprano Sarah Gabriel made her USA debut as Lucy Lockit (Britten The Beggar’s Opera) conducted by Lorin Maazel and her European debut as Eliza Doolittle in Robert Carsen’s triumphant production of My Fair Lady at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, opposite Alex Jennings as Higgins.

Sarah has given recitals of music spanning 300 years at Wigmore Hall, Glyndebourne, Dartington and Cheltenham International Festivals and has broadcast for BBC2, BBC Radio 3 and 4, NPR (USA), RTÉ, France Musique, and Radio France. Her current exploration of Weimar Cabaret includes performances with Joanna MacGregor, and also opening the new season Club Inégales in London.

See website: www.sarahgabriel.eu/

Bio: Steve Dummer

Steve Dummer is a conductor, clarinettist, educator and all-round enthusiast for participation in music making at every level. He is musical director of Kidenza, founder and director of the highly acclaimed group Talkestra, which tries to reach new audiences for concert music, conductor of the Horsham Symphony Orchestra, which, under Steve’s directorship, has become “one of the best community orchestras in the country”, conductor of the Ensemble Reza Community Orchestra, musical director of CoMA Sussex, a regular tutor and conductor at Dartington International Summer School and director of the Junior Course of the European Youth Summer Music.  His most recent project, Stane Street Sinfonietta is a professional string orchestra for musicians living in Sussex, which gave its debut performances in November 2018.

As a clarinetist he gives regular recitals and concerts throughout the UK and abroad and records for television and film. He has given world premieres of music written for him by many composers including Peter Copley, Paul Carr, Alison Kay, Ric Graebner, Barry Mills and Patrick Harrex and also first British performances of music by Gerald Busby, Matthew Hindson, Derek Bermel, Frederick Rzewski and Paul Lewis.

Bio: Stephen Higgins

Stephen Higgins attended Oxford University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio. He works with opera houses in the UK including English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House and Scottish Opera- as Music Director, or Conductor in both the UK and abroad. He also has an interest in music theatre, working with Sondheim on revivals of ‘A little Night Music’ and ‘Sunday in the park with George’ at the Châtelet theatre in Paris, and conducting ‘Phantom of the Opera’ in London’s West End.

As well as live performances, Stephen has worked for film and television companies as Music Supervisor, including films and documentaries for BBC2, Channel 4 and Film 4. He is in addition Head of Music at Bergen National Opera and in June conducted a highly acclaimed version of Massenet’s Thais for Chelsea Opera Group. He has just recorded a disc with Sir Thomas Allen of the American Songbook repertoire, which is out now on the Champs Hill label.

Admission ticket price: £20.00 (where does the money go?)