Kupfersaal: Leipzig (GERMANY)

Since returning back to Australia, I have sort of avoided writing too much about the places that I had visited and played at in Europe... sort of a self-preservation thing, as it would just bring back lots of memories of colleagues left behind and a life that seems like a fading memory of good times. Now that we are more settled into the music scene in Australia, and also better settled within society and family... well, I feel like I'm able to write about places again without tearing up too much!

Anyway, Kupfersaal is a medium sized performance hall in Leipzig that was used by one of the groups that I played with for rehearsals during the well-known Leipzig Festival.

The hall is a little bit of a mixed back, with a small bar/cafe set up in the front of the hall, which then expands out to a small performance stage/seating area further down the back. I suspect that it is more used for cabaret, readings, plays, and functions rather than orchestra-sized ensembles. The amount of hard surfaces made it quite a bit strange to play in... lots of noise and reflections made for a bit of a confusing atmosphere to rehearse in!

What was really cool though, was the little areas in the front... that were quite reminiscent of earlier times in the Communist era of Eastern Germany. Interestingly enough, I learnt that there is a sort of movement which looks back on those times with a bit of rose-tinted glasses...

.... but even if it rose-tinted, it is sort of a pretty cool style! I'm not entirely sure if it is really harking back to the Eastern German style... and perhaps just a Western retro look?

And this was the rehearsing area at the back... you will notice that this was during the emerging days after the first European waves of corona... and you can see that all the chairs are quite spaced apart... especially for the singers!

Still, the orchestra was also spaced apart as well... which did make for quite a difficult rehearsal period, as you the rapport with colleagues was diminished quite a bit with the added distance between sections and players!