Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

Save the Piano Salon!

Longtime readers will know my deep fondness for the piano salon, and that fondness remains undimmed though motherhood has meant fewer nights out for Fauré.

Imagine, then, my distress to learn a threatened rent hike of 250% might spell the end of those effortless, magical evenings. (Effortless, that is, for those who get to just turn up; Christoph and the musicians work their tails off to make the concerts sparkle.)

If you know of a ground-floor place with about 200 square meters available for rent in or around Prenzlauer Berg, drop Christoph a line. And in any case, do go along to the evening of sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert performed by Sayaka Shoji and Julien Quentin tonight, and get there early.

The enchanted beast

How delighted I was to see S spellbound by Christine Schäfer's arias from Alcina! Alongside Giulio Cesare, Alcina formed the soundtrack to my pregnancy, and a little thrill went through me as I sat cradling S and the Berliner Barock Solisten touched the first notes of the overture.

For those who wonder at risking a tiny baby in a concert, know that the Tuesday lunchtime recitals in the  Philharmonie foyer are free, casual, wonderful, and can even accommodate a bit of discreet nursing in a corner; they're well worth attending for the stellar performances in a low-key setting. (And for what it's worth, S, bless her, let out nary a peep.)

Piano Salon/Focaccia King

Amit Friedmann is singing at the piano salon tonight! David and I will definitely be there, and perhaps you will too? Swing by the Focaccia King if you'd like a pre-concert dinner: It might not be quite as very hip as La Focacceria, but the fresh doughy slices topped with all manner of veggie and non-veggie treats will keep you sated through the song cycles, and the gentlest man presided over the small shop each time I was there. Consider buying a brioche to nibble at during intermission.

Focaccia King, Danziger Str. 25 (map)
Tel. 30 40505210
Open Mon-Sat 8.30 am - 10 pm (but if everything's sold out, they might shut as early as 8 pm, so you might ring to check)

Piano Salon Christophori (II)

Everyone familiar with the place will be unsurprised to hear that the informal salon evenings at Piano Salon Christophori go on surprising and delighting: In mid-September Kotaro Fukuma and Misa Suzuki presented a lighthearted two-piano concert, with Misa insouciantly pausing in her playing to turn pages in Mr Fukuma's score; later in the month, somehandssomehands did more in less, playing three to an instrument.

Friday's program features a single player - Madalina Pasol - alongside Tanja Simic, a mezzo straight out of New York. The concerts have, in my mind, taken on an added poignancy and potential urgency with the news that the building in which they're housed has been sold. No concrete threat yet that the Piano Salon Christophori will be evicted, but it makes me prize these evenings all the more. More details here.

Berlin International Opera: Figaro at the Löwenpalais

And what a difference to wend my way through Grunewald villas to Figaro at the Löwenpalais. As a longtime denizen of the Staatsoper's third-balcony seats, it was thrilling to experience opera - and the singers' able acting - in such an intimate space. And what acting too (an incadescent, maniac Cherubino, a dapper and dashing Figaro, a comic Count thwarted at every turn), and all roles sung splendidly, really, leaving David and I humming with vigour as we wheeled my bicycle along to Halensee.

Two performances remain on Saturday and Sunday, and for those who don't make those, Berlin International Opera has got Macbeth slated for March 2008.

Chamber music evenings at the Piano Salon Christophori

Isn't it heavenly, isn't it reassuring to know your city will go on delighting you? Last fall we discovered the piano repair shop's informal chamber music concerts in the best way - walking by - and most recently enjoyed evenings with stellar Israeli baritone Amit Friedmann and British pianist Beatrice Nicholas. Christoph Schreiber, the neurologist-turned-piano-restorer who runs the place, is the most delightful master of ceremonies, and I can't wait for the two concerts in August before the summer break. Arrive early to secure a good seat and to watch Christoph and his colleague race to put the piano together (no, this isn't a fixed part of the program).

Piano Salon Christophori, Senefelderstr. 30A (map)
Concerts usually begin at 20.30. No tickets are needed: Payment for the music, wine and water is done on a voluntary basis at the end. (When you see how wonderful it all is, you'll be moved to generosity too.)

Amit Friedmann singing Schumann Lieder

During intermission

Kammermusiksaal (Philharmonie)

Back from the Philharmonie, this briefly, before I go to bed ...