In the “How are you” series, we ask people from the district how they experience the unusual Corona times.
Today: opera singer Stephanie Krug.
Bad Tölz - The soprano Stephanie Krug grew up as the daughter of Pastor Klaus Krug and the religion teacher Elga Krug in Bad Tölz. After studying in Salzburg and London and spending several years in Munich, the soprano Stephanie Krug returned to her roots.
The freelance artist is now pursuing von Tölz from her engagements as an opera and concert singer.
On the one hand she works with the leading ensembles of early music, but on the other hand she has also participated in several world premieres in the vicinity of the ARD radio stations.
So, when Corona is not putting shackles on cultural life, she is on the road a lot.
The interview is conducted by Sabine Näher.
Why are you now living in Bad Tölz again, Ms. Krug, as a singer who is in demand in many places?
The beauty of the mountain and lake landscape with the associated recreational value and the “champagne air” have shaped me a lot. I didn't want to withhold that from my two children either. For me, mountaineering and ski touring are also ideal training and compensation for singing. Culturally, I was very active here from my youth with my own theater group “Import” and in Friedrich Sauler's Protestant church choir, who discovered me as a soloist at an early age. In this way I got to know and love the work of Johann Sebastian Bach in particular. To this day I have remained loyal to the region with recitals, as a soloist in oratorios or in salon concerts in my own house. I also see it as my job to pass on my many years of expertise to young people in singing lessons and theater projects on site.
What does your concert calendar usually look like?
As a freelance soprano, I have a very varied concert life.
In addition to engagements as a soloist in oratorios, I can be heard on the opera stage, especially in the great baroque roles.
I was really looking forward to a tour with the part of Cleopatra in “Giulio Cesare” by Handel, which would have made a stop at the Cuvilliéstheater in Munich, as well as to a resumption of my scenic recital “The Red Moon” by Kurt Weill.
Recitals, especially with the work of Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf, are always high points of concert life for me.
At the baroque festival in Sofia I would have led a master class “The romantic song with fortepiano” at the music college and sang solo cantatas by Bach.
What was left of all the plans in the Corona year?
Brief highlights were a concert tour with Italian baroque music with my own ensemble “Così Facciamo” for old and new music, an early baroque concert with Italian actors in Naples and recently two performances of Bach's St. John Passion in Fürth.
The opera projects have all been canceled or, at best, postponed.
From April to July 2020, however, I gave 13 winter garden concerts à capella with literature from Bach to Gershwin and songs together with students from my house for a grateful audience on balconies, streets and gardens.
That was a particularly nice atmosphere.
I was also involved in Martina Veh's “Silent Film”, which was shown at the Five Lakes Film Festival.
What kind of support would you have wished for from politicians during the crisis?
Recognition of culture as systemically relevant from the start on the same level as, for example, hairdressers or garden centers and faster, unbureaucratic financial support for those working in culture. Above all, more flexible handling of theaters' opening strategies, which often offer excellent hygiene concepts with modern ventilation systems and distance regulations for a naturally disciplined audience and are therefore less threatening than a supermarket. But I want to emphasize that I am by no means a corona denier, but rather recognize the pandemic as a real, hitherto unknown danger to humanity. If the incidence is too high, contact restrictions up to and including lockdown are essential. My respect goes to the intensive care physicians and nurses.
Was there a plan B for you in addition to your work as a singer?
From a singer's point of view, the corona symptoms are a particular threat: Singing is a high-performance sport for mind and body and, like breathing, is part of life for me, the high vibrations that arise on stage and between the singer and the audience are addictive - and I'm slowly starting to feel certain withdrawal symptoms.
Now it's time to persevere.
I take the opportunity to prepare a CD with Schubert songs with the pianist and my former professor for song and oratorio at the Mozarteum, Breda Zakotnik.
Hopefully, I don't think about alternatives until I get older.
However, directing and painting are great passions of mine, I actually don't get enough of that.
How do you assess the current situation for the cultural sector in general?
The large and state-sponsored institutions such as state operas or state museums will surely survive.
Small, unsubsidized stages, independent ensembles and artists, i.e. the entire alternative art and music scene, suffer enormously.
I don't dare to estimate how much the scene will bleed out what's left.
The cultural landscape will definitely change and sometimes have to reinvent it.
Ultimately, however, culture is not really destructible.
After all, she survived two world wars.
Are there musicians in your circle of friends who have thrown in the towel out of desperation?
Some colleagues have temporarily looked for alternative jobs as medical assistants or tracers at the health department.
It's especially tough for families of musicians.
The harpsichordist in my ensemble is married to a tenor, both excellent musicians with three young children.
You moved to Franconia from sinfully expensive Munich in order to survive.
But nobody in my circle of friends has given up.
According to your experience, how is the appreciation for the culture in the neighboring countries in comparison?
We actually have an excellent, colorful cultural scene with many theaters, festivals, church music and museums and an enthusiastic, loyal audience.
However, I admired Austria, which despite the pandemic pulled through the Salzburg Festival in 2020 with a sophisticated hygiene concept.
I would like to see this courage in Germany too.
What was your worst or best experience in the pandemic?
At Christmas, after a serious hip operation, I was lying over the Covid ward in a clinic in Munich and could not receive any visit from my family.
That was hard.
I really enjoyed my winter garden concerts and my lonely mountain tours in total lockdown last year.
This may never happen again in the overcrowded Oberland.
In general, has the crisis also had something positive?
Even if it is inevitable for my job: The fact that traveling can no longer be taken for granted and that the home office has moved into focus in many professions is certainly one of the most important findings for ecological reasons.
I also very much hope that vacation trips will be planned more carefully in the future, you can discover so many beautiful things on site.
And the violent deceleration is certainly also a gain.
In addition, the solidarity in the family has certainly grown.
What is your prognosis for cultural life in the further course of the year?
In my opinion, a stable opening depends on the vaccination rate, without new, more dangerous mutations throwing us back.
I don't trust myself to make a prognosis at the moment.
Many concerts for me have been postponed by a year.
I am cautiously optimistic that they can take place again from autumn.
And finally, what is your conclusion about the corona crisis - and your motto for it?
Out of gratitude for the many carefree years and the knowledge that despite everything to lead a fulfilled, vulnerable life, to draw courage for the future!
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