KUG Stage Band @ GIBS
Students from 2a 2b 2c and 3a 3b 3c along with the Junior Choir and several upper school students performed alongside the KUG Stage Band, under the direction of Sigi Feigl in an unforgettable evening of live music, right in our very own gym! The Emma Krisper Scholarship award was also presented to students Jessica Tapley 5a and Siruan Rabl 5c.
170 students sang along with classic songs from Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, three important jazz orchestras from the swing, big band era.
Elizabeth Fink 5a played the infamous clarinet solo from Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing classic hit, where Flora Connert 5a could also be heard playing in the sax section.
Trumpet players Hanna Reiter 7i and Joseph Kelly 2b were featured alongside KUG trumpet professor Jim Rotondi on Basie’s iconic Flight of the Foo Birds, where the biology departments Manfred Singer could be heard on the F horn alongside the trombone section.
Ha An Nguyen 8b played the Count Basie solo from the slow blues After Supper, which also featured our singers, and Moritz Eibisberger 3a and Lucca Hackenberg 1c on trombone, Mya Dixon and Leona Swoboda 3b on alto saxophone, Leah Sternad 4b on clarinet, and Manfred Singer on F horn.
String players Paula Wesseley 1c, Luca Hock 2a, Laura Freisinger, Lena Knapp, Mira Verheyen 2b, Noah Schulte 2c, Lucy Cho, Anna Stangl 3b, Fey Teufelberger, Lilia Zach 4b, Marie Huber, Sara Mujagic 5b, Hanna Reiter 7i, Emma Eger, Zoe Maletz 8i joined for the more contemporary Just Like That, from Peter Herbolzheimer.
GIBS pianists Alexander Wanz 1c, Eiman Olivera da Silva 2b, Albert Pferzinger and Laetitia Tauer 3c, and Leon Muchitsch 4b joined the band for some piano improvisation on Ellington’s C Jam Blues, where Lucca Hackenberg 1c and Moritz Eibisberger 3a joined the trombone section, Leona Swoboda and Mya Dickson 3b joined the saxophone section and also took turn improvising. Olivia Platzgummer, Felix Kanzler 1c, Paul Samec 4a, Pablo Ramirez, Florens Frisch 8i joined on percussion to give the song a ‘mambo’ groove.
The year 8 students Emma Eger, Marie Juric, Sofia Maiberg, Zoe Maletz, Ha An Nguyen, Christiane Pirker, Lina Platzgummer and Ailish Schreiner wowed the audience with the tricky Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, which featured Sofia Maiberg as a soloist. The girls were featured again on the closing medley of Duke Ellington classic hits: Zoe Maletz and Lina Platzgummer on Satin Doll, Ailish Schreiner on Mood Indigo, Emma Eger on Sophisticated Lady, Valerie Senger and Sofia Maiberg on Don’t get Around Much Anymore, and year 4 singers joined as soloists with the choir for It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing: Celia Gutschi, Marie Hosp, Myalin Philipps, Rebecca Ramos Garcia, Reine Ramirez, Liliane Swoboda, Freya Aska and Angie Gao.
Horace Silver’s beautiful ballad Peace was performed by xGIBS parent Renato Chicco on piano, with Jim Rotondi on trumpet and KUG jazz singer Evelina Kalnina on voice as a tribute to GIBS staff member Barbara Conrad, who will be forever in our hearts!
