The whole thing came about out of a birthday party mood, that was in 2009. The Brazilian Lilian Zamorano, who has lived in Munich since 1998, was the driving force and has remained so to this day. The music teacher, who had already trained in composition and conducting in Sao Paulo with a focus on choral conducting, missed an ensemble in Munich among the many gospel, church and classical choirs for her real preferences: a jazz choir. So she founded it herself Catchatune was born.
Comrades-in-arms soon found themselves, until the choir had reached its final size of 16 or 17 voices. “Some like Eva Nash, who also arranges a lot for us, had been waiting for a jazz choir for a long time,” says Christina Eder, who joined the choir two years after it was founded as an alto and has also been responsible for press work since then. “A hard core remained, of course there was fluctuation on the fringes,” she adds, “so we have everything between 20 and 70 on board.” From the beginning it was a lay project, but with a claim. “When we performed in the Gasteig for the first time exactly ten years ago, we megalomaniacically called the concert ‘The Grand Opening’,” says Eder.
Meanwhile, Catchatune has become an amazing and amazingly ambitious ensemble. Thanks to Zamorano’s origins, you have a lot of Jobim and other Brazilians in your repertoire, plus Gershwin and Manhattan transfer, but since then also pop music, more and more own arrangements and a cappella passages in different casts. The professionalism also benefits that since inception Josef Ressle at the piano accompanied, an award-winning jazz professional from the Munich scene. “It’s great that he is loyal to us and has already brought other great musicians with him, such as the percussionists Sebastian Wolfgruber and Marco Dufner or the saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave,” says Eder.
Now the percussionist Andreas Kutschera is sitting at Reßle’s side when, after a two-year break, the long-awaited first new one Performance at the Gasteig HP8 pending. “Pass Me The Jazz” is the title of the evening. And jumping over to the audience shouldn’t be a problem with the dazzling repertoire: from the Cole Porter standard “Too Darn Hot” to a Baden Powell classic, pieces by the Swedish a cappella band RealGroup to the signature song “Smile” – and a real world premiere: the Brazilian composer Marcelo Caldi wrote the piece “Derrubando Muros” especially for Catchatune.
Catchatune, Saturday, March 12, 8 p.m., Gasteig HP8, Hall X, Hans-Preißinger-Straße 8