The Coffeehouse of Vanities - Trio La Colombe

An evening filled with music, stories, and nostalgic charm.

Program description:
Amid the aroma of freshly ground coffee, the soft clinking of delicate cups, and hushed conversations at small marble tables, a world of music and poetry once came to life. Around 1900, the coffeehouses of Europe—especially in Vienna, Paris, and Prague—served as a second living room or waiting room for many writers, musicians, and creative people.

As the sounds of the piano filled the room, painters discussed colors, poets jotted down their thoughts in notebooks, and composers drew inspiration from the rhythm of the city and the unique atmosphere of the cafés. Amid candlelight and stacks of newspapers, stories, melodies, and works of art were created that continue to resonate to this day. Everyone looks out for themselves; people watch each other with eagle eyes, seeing and being seen, relating to one another, yet distancing themselves from one another. People love one another, need one another, and sometimes even hate one another.

Writers such as Tucholsky, Altenberg, K. Kraus, and others, as well as L. van Beethoven, Mahler, Satie, Chopin, F. Hollaender, and so on, were passionate coffeehouse patrons.Drawing

from this rich repertoire, the three artists—Catharina Marquet (vocals), Mona Creutzer, recitation, and Galina Ryzhikova, piano, present an entertaining, irreverent fusion of music and text to capture this cosmos of creativity and human diversity on a journey through coffeehouse culture—at times contemplative, at times lively and elegant.