Calendar

On the 4^th of May we were happy to play close to home once again. After a long period of giving concerts more or less far away from Laakirchen we were invited to join the Gioia chorus of Roitham for their concert this year. Titled ‘love songs’ it became a wonderful performance in the crowded out saloon of guesthouse Forstinger. Most of all the choir and us played well-known pieces of local music like ‘Du bist so weit, weit weg’, the german song ‘Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht’ or the international love song ‘can´t help falling in love’. Thus, everybody found something that put a dreamy smile on his/her face. Impressions from the lovely concert can be found in our foto section.

It is already known that the harmonica festival "Mundharmonika live" is taking part every third weekend in September - this year for the 12^th time. Starting on Tuesday all three workshops with lecturers Bart Leczycki (Poland), Noldi Tobler (Switzerland) and Dirk Rolle (Germany) have been fully booked up. We were happy to be part of this festival in Klingenthal, Germany, near the Czech border and were already performing on stage in the official opening session on Friday in the city centre. In the evening we continued to play in the Zwotatal hotel where traditionally all chromatic non-blues players and fans thereof encounter each year. At the Saturday afternoon gala concert we were taking turns with Bart Leczycki and guitar player Bernd Simon. As usual Saturday night was one of the the highlights of the festival with bands and solo-players performing in numerous locations all across the city and some villages close by (ourselves in the Flösserstube). Location hopping was facilitated by shuttle buses. Needless to say that we were having a great time there meeting lots of old and new friends. If you like you can share some impressions with us by visiting our foto section.

Here we would like to direct you to the homepage of the harmonica group of Bad Kreuzen where you will find some information on the event including a video. Fotos of the concert can be found in our foto section.

Energetic, swinging, full of charme and enthusiasm... that´s how the jubilee concert of the choir "cool voices" from Hartkirchen, Upper Austria, could be described. On the 13^th of November the choir celebrated their 15^th anniversary and we were glad to be part of it. Obviously, the audience in the sold out concert hall enjoyed the concert very much.
We want to thank choirmaster Gabi Lahner for inviting us to this special event and wish the choir much fun and success in the future, and that they may keep on "singing, swinging and metamorphosing". Are you confused now? Just visit our foto section and you will understand.

In the evening of November 6^th 2011 a couple of harmonica groups was performing on stage of the music school of Laakirchen, Upper Austria. The concert was given to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the harmonica association Laakirchen which most groups that could be heard on that evening are members of. Laakirchen is one of the few places in the world with such a high density of harmonica palyers, may it be internationally renowned "harmonica veterans" or children- and jouth-ensembles. In particular, the harmonica choir Laakirchen (conducted by Nicola Feichtinger), the childrens' ensemble, and the jouth ensemble (the latter two conducted by Margareta Rathner) could be enjoyed in the concert hall of the music school. A uniting feature of all of them is their passion for harmonica. We are glad to be part of an organisation like the harmonica association Laakirchen and of such a great evening. We want to thank the organizers fo inviting us to play the second half of the concert. To have a look on some impressions of the eveneing please visit our foto section.

„Singing and harping“ has been the device oft a charity concert aiming at the renovation of the church of Buchers, a small village in the Czech Republic near the Austrian border. Together with the choir of Gramastetten we were delighted to aid this project at a summerly afternoon in the light-flooded atrium of the church of Buchers, the latter being placed in a truly beautiful landscape. Some of our impressions can be seen in our foto section.
We would like to thank the organizer and chairman of the homeland association of Buchers, Erich Altmann, for inviting us and send our best wishes again to Buchers (today: Pohori na Sumave).
Please also find an article of the “Niederösterreichische Nachrichten” linked here.

Many-voiced and interactive is probably the best way to describe the summer concert of the Kienzl-choir Waizenkirchen on the evening of Saturday 28^th of May 2011. The concert was titled "singa & fozhobeln" ("singing and playing the harp") and was joined by the male choir Donau Eferding and by us. We have already stated several times that choir-singing and harmonica are a fruitful combination. This time, however, we had a good time in accompanying singers and dancers more than ever before.
Ever again we are really happy about how our music appeals to the Upper Austrian choris and how we meet old acquaintance.
We are really looking forward to the next time! First photos of the event have already been made accessible in our foto section.

It was a great pleasure for us to be part of the concert of Thening’s male choir on the 14^th of Mai 2011. Besides the young musicians from the local music school there also was a brass band called ‘EURU’ from around Linz. The choir itself successfully combined old and young – folk song and modern spirit. All together they bestowed a delightful evening upon the audience. Taking home beautiful impressions, we will keep the concert in perfect memory. To see some photos please switch in our foto section.

A long period of planning and organizing culminated in a concert in the new concert hall 'MEZZO' that was recently built in the village of Ohlsdorf. At 8 pm we were celebrating our 10^th anniversary and proudly presented our first CD, 'VielHarmonika' which was recorded just in time. We were especially delighted by the sheer number of our audience: colleagues, friends, fans of harmonica and people interested in music in general. Many of those we have just got to know during our musical career. 210 visitors were simply exceeding our most optimistic expectations by far. We have to confess that in turn, we too are always enjoying to be part of the concert of another music group, wether it is on stage or in the audience. Here we also want to thank all those helping hands that were not mentioned befittingly during our concert itself. Without those people many things - e. g. our invitation for food, drinks and conversation immediately after the concert - would not have been possible.
Importantly, we also want to vehemently disclaim a rumor that was going around that evening, telling it would be our farewell-concert. This myth may have its origins in the fact that we study, work and live scattered allover Austria. However, our passion for music and harmonica has held us together and kept us acting on stage... and it will continue to do so. '10 years Butterfly' was not a final but an interim progress report. We will certainly meet again at one or the other concert of ours!

An event which certainly will remain as one of the nicest in our memories was the christmas party of the Upper Austrian association of blind and visually handicapped people in Linz. At the club house of the association we were performing together with the dialect poet Karl Bachmair from Schardenberg in the „Innviertel“. The afternoon turned into evening while atmospheric poems and short stories took turns with our broadly known christmas songs, traditional tunes and other known pieces. We were very happy about the interest that we experienced after the official part of the party concerning our instruments and our music. We will also especially cherish two gifts that we got from two members of the association: a little perfectly looking christmas angel made by a blind woman and the harmonica of another woman born in Laakirchen, the city were we all learned to play harmonica. A few pictures from the celebration can, as usually, be seen in our foto section.

Christine Danninger, paintress in the association "Kunst und Kultur im Brauhof" was organizing a book presentation and vernissage on the evening of wednesday, 2^nd of June, 2010 in Scharnstein, Upper Austria. Besides the literary works there were also sculptures formed by Christian Koller on display. The entertaining evening started with SITA R. de Jenner, who gave her debut in 2005 with the novel "Handyberg" and now presented her new book "Die Blumengeister-Clique". Also present and presenting was writer Rene Freund who entertained us with passages from his Linz-guide "Donau Stahl und Wolkenklang". The latter book classifies itself into the category of guides stuffed with ironic poetry and critical comments, and pointed declarations of love to almost historical snack shops like the "Warmer Hans" or the "Leberkas-Pepi". We were happy to be part of this evening and to present our music between the book extracts. Food and drinks were services by Taverne Silmbroth. If you were not happy enough to be part of that evening you can at least have a glance on it in our foto section or you still may visit the exhibition which will last until the end of September.

It was a pleasure to follow the invitation of the male choir Donau-Eferding to take part in its concert in the townhall of Eferding (Upper Austria) titled "play a little melody for me". Besides the choir itself - in distinct songs fittingly supported by singer SueSie" - also Ferchi and Sax otherwise known as Lukas Ferchhumer (11) playing the piano and Björn Krämer (10) playing the saxophone could show their brilliance. At this place we honestly want to congratulate them to their success in "prima la musica" where they achieved 1^th prices in every category they were participating. During about one and a half hours actual stage time, relaxed by a 20 min break the concert was a delight to both, the audition and the artists.
Therefore we again have to compliment the organizing comittee around choirmaster Erich Männer and chairman Karl Angerer which were responsible for the perfect planning of the evening. Thanks for the invitation. Some selected pictures can as usual be seen in our foto section.

It's the credit of the choirmaster Ruthilde Rapp that a concert with the choir is a really agreeable experience. The programm of the anniversary concert was indeed diversified. Beside the choir of Marchtrenk the manchoir of Pichl, the primary school's children choir and the folk dance group were part of the concert. Elsa Klaffenböck and the dialect poet Josef Kohlböck led through the evening and made the three concert hours entertaining. We are looking forward to another concert with Ruthilde and her choir in the future. If you want to create your own impressions please visit our photosection.

The first snow of the year was falling when the "Concert in Christmastime" was starting, an idea of the advertisement department of the choir of Offenhausen, as the speaker of the evening and choir member had to confess. But this was not the single aspect of perfect organisation that evening. The musically relatively different contributions did unite to a harmonic and still varied whole. Not only christmas songs were presented but also musical pieces that somehow fit to the thoughtful time of the year. The attentive visitor probably was able to notice that circumstance already in advance because the event was, not by chance, titled "Concert in Christmastime" instead of "Christmas Concert"... a fine difference. Timely in the heart of the evening the pupils-choir of the elementary school of Offenhausen presented itself impressively, embraced by to blocks of each, the choir of Offenhausen, Mag. Katja Bielefeld on the piano and of course our harmonicas. All presentations were bordered by the atmospheric texts of narrator Walter Emathinger and projected pictures und song texts. At the end of the conert all participants were gathering together in the altar area to sing and play together with the visitors of the concert in the parish church of Offenhausen, which provided the perfect locality for this "Concert in Christmastime". We congratulate singers and organiser Franz Poschacher who was also one time acompanying the choir on his harmonica. Fotos of the evening can as usually be seen in our foto section.

"love songs" was the theme of the autumnal contert of the male choir Grieskirchen-Tolleterau and their guests, the Kienzlchoir of Waizenkirhcen. We were glad to be part of this special evening with some songs out of our repertoire. Once again the combination of choirs and hamonica was honored with great applause. Therefore we did not hesitate to agree when we were asked to spend some time after the concert together with the members of the choirs. The evenign faded out with eating, drinking, singing, playing some more pieces and exchanging experiences. All in all a successful concert. If you want to make your own impressions you are kindly asked to follow the link to our picture gallery.

On the 4^th of July we were invited to join the sporting club of Ohlsdorf to celebrate its 40^th anniversary and the 30^th anniversary of the local tennis club. The location was a farmers house named „Groissing“ in Aichlam. Already in the afternoon the festivity was starting with a sportive event for the whole family. The official part started at 7.30 pm and all the subdivisions of the sporting club including its most merited members were honored. We enjoyed to play harmonica in between these official acts while all the invited guests were provided with grilled chicken, barbequeue or cakes and drinks. Again, best wishes to the sporting club Ohlsdorf for its future. As usual you can look at a few photos made at the event in our photo section.

The company internal festivity on the occasion of the retirement of a merited, longtime staff member in Scheibbs on the 20^th of March 2009, was a really special event. Thanks to the fascination of our host with harmonica we were given the opportunity to be part of this evening. There we could show once more the many faces of our small instrument. This was even strengthened by Walter Buchinger and his amazing performance with harmonica and accordion. Most of all we want to wish the retiree a fulfilled time during his pension and ongoing joy with music.

After we have accompanied the bridal couple with classical and beautiful melodies  at the civil registry office, we also took part at the evening program of Beate Kreutzer und René Barlian‘s wedding at the ALPHA Steyrermühl. For 45 min we played songs of all over the world. Many guests never have heard harmonica in such a way before. They all were exalted, especially one little guest, who started immediately to dance to the sound of the “Zdrowa Hora”. We want to say thanks you to the bridal couple and we wish them the best for their life together. As usual there are also a few photos of the event online.

The sun was shining brightly when the international meeting of street-musicians took place in Huben (Ötztal , Austria) on the 2^nd of August 2008. Even beyond the borders of Austria , Huben is already known for this happening which was celebrated this year for the 18^th time. A variegated mix of jugglers and street-musicians from a wealth of different culture groups e.g. from Italy, the Czech Republic, Slawakia and also Austria was entertaining on Hubens main street. The motto of the festival was “Zug der Narren”. Besides the pantomime Franz Unger and a stilt giant one could enjoy very different styles of traditional music, Blues and Jazz as well as different games and activities, drinks and local delicacies. In short this event is really worth visiting and recommendable for kids and grown ups! If you want to have a look at a view of our impressions you can visit our photo gallery.

The Baltic – Nordic Harmonic Festival took place from the 25^th to 27^th of July in Pärnu/Estonia. It is an event in Estonia, known in the harmonica music centres of the world and a valued place to play music. We had the pleasure to play there in concert with well known and virtuous harmonica players like Willi Burger (ITA), Philip Achille (UK) and Steve Lury (UK), Dennis McMasters (USA), Tonu Aare and Karl Madis (EE). Apart from various concerts and competitions interesting workshops were held. The splendid end was a procession through the town and an open air concert. All in all we really enjoyed the trip to Estonia and we made some great experiences in the festival. We will keep it in our memories for a long time. Photos from the festival can be found in here. This time even in two rubrics.

On a beautiful evening the choir of Meggenhofen and Gallspach sang folksongs, pieces of operetta and film music. In the wonderful ambience of the "Theater im Bauernhof", we and the choir could fascinate the audience and so the concert went by very fast. After this we enjoyed some hours together with snacks and drinks :). It was a perfect evening that we won't forget. If you want to have a look on one or the other photo please click here.

After our first visit to Oberhehenfeld to perform together with the Gallus-choir in May 2007 we were really looking forward to our second performance here to introduce the renewed clubhouse of the „Verschönerungsverein Oberhehenfeld/Schörfling“ on the 31^st of May 2008. Also this time it was a very delightful happening and we enjoyed to see one or the other familiar face again. We were also honoured by the visit of our friend and for many successful years chairman of the “Mundharmonikachor Laairchen” Edwin Koller with his wife. Because of the beautiful weather with around 30°C the organizers were able to shift the whole event in front of the clubhouse. Together with the music and the amusing programm of “Zithern Lois” we could guide the audience through this warm pre-summer evening. Finally we wish to thank the organizer of this happening and chairman of the “Verschönerungsverein” for his invitation. We would have missed something great! Photos can be seen in the corresponding rubric.

On the 30^th of Mai 2008 a planned series of festivals with the name “Zukunftsfest” was started with the “Zukunftsfest 08” in Bad Wimsbach-Neydharting – and it was a good start! The festival was opened with the debut performance of a modern musical called „Future“ performed by the „Trachten Musikkapelle Bad Wimsbach-Neydharting“ and the choir „The Message” at exactly 20:08 p.m. At 10:00 p.m. we proceeded with our 45 min performance where we gave a little insight into the broad spectrum of harmonica music. Despite the already advanced time of the day we found favour with the audience. If you want to have a look please just visit our photo section.

When remembering past concerts we can say that the combination of a choir and the harmonica is very fruitful. This has again proven to be right on the weekend of Saturday the 16^th and Sunday the 17^th of June 2007. On Saturday sociability was spreading all over the guesthouse in Gaspoltshofen which simply was converted into a stage that evening. Certainly the dialect poems also performed by a member of the choir contributed to that atmosphere. On Sunday, however, the fine qualities of both participants were highlighted by the awesome atmosphere of the church in Aistersheim. Taken together the weekend can be judged very successful in every aspect. Photos of the concerts in Gaspolthofen and Aisterheim can be found in our rubric Photos.

Just as everytime the International Harmonica Player Meeting in Klagenfurt/Austria was a highlight and is a hot tip for every harmonica-fan and player. At the evening of our performance every style of music beginning with classical music over folk to more modern music, performed by several harmonica players, was present. Nevertheless we think we were able to add some more aspects with our way of playing the instrument. We would like to thank the organizer Franz Halper for his exceptional hospitality and compliment him on this event. Photos from Klagenfurt can be viewed in the Photos rubric.

We are very pleased to be able to inform you with happy faces about the 9^th World Music Festival in Innsbruck. Having been participants in the categories “Mundharmonika Solo Erwachsene” and “Mundharmonika Spielgruppen” we were given right in practising so much – although we must confess that it was not very hard to do so because of our love to music. Lisa Fellinger had to queue second with only a minimum lag of points behind the ex equo first-placed players. Therefore she got the judgement “outstanding”. Again being judged “outstanding” the trio (Lisa Fellinger, Joachim Plasser and Georg Kuales) won the groups competition. Also impressive was the awe-inspiring atmosphere in the “Olympiahalle” of Innsbruck which was completely sold out. The only thing to complain is that, so we think, our instrument did not get the appreciation it is deserving. Nevertheless this should not deviate from the well done festival in Innsbruck. Most of all we want to thank our friends who came these days to experience the festival with us because – as the saying tells us: “splitting joy does only double it”! The photos of the festival can be found in the corresponding gallery of our Photos rubric.

First we want to thank the Gallus-choir and particularly his chairman Alfred Ablinger for the kind invitation to their annual concert. It was a great pleasure to play there in front of the very interested audience. Finally you all have encouraged us with your numerous corresponding questions to design this homepage. Certainly we will keep this concert in good memory together with the patriotic attitude and the awareness of tradition in Schörfling. It is an insiders tip for everybody.