Tollwood‘s annual winter festival starts today, and I’ve done some research into what’s on over the next six weeks at the Theresienwiese.
The Magic Flute will be performed several times over the course of the festival, with a South African take on the Mozart opera. The South African theatre group the Isango Ensemble have been widely praised for their performances, and African drums and marimbas will show a modern side to the traditional opera. Tickets are available from just 30.90 €, but you can go the whole hog and enjoy a four-course meal with the show for around 70 €. Food includes pumpkin soup and roast beef (there’s also a veggie option), and a Black Forest mousse for dessert.
The festival kicks off tonight with Honky Tonk Five, a rockabilly/hillbilly group straight from Bavaria. It’s a completely free gig, so if you fancy a fifties-style boogie to warm your cockles, you can do much worse than to check them out. The bar’s open until 1am, so you’ve plenty of time to get some mulled wine inside of you.
Munich quintet The Burning Biscuit Band will be on hand on Sunday afternoon (from 3.30pm), to perform Irish folk songs (another gig for the dancers amongst you), and you really should stay to catch the Munich Modern Jazz Orchestra perform Sunday evening – entrance is free, but the aim is to raise money for REFUGIO e.V. A very worthwhile cause, and a fantastic orchestra.
On Monday, December 2, the German documentary Miles and War will be shown at 8pm (in the Weltsalon), also entirely free. The documentary has been shown at Munich’s own DOK.fest, the Brooklyn Film Festival and Amsterdam’s International Documentary Film Festival, and focuses on peace mediation, and countering war with words.
Weltsalon will also be showing another fascinating documentary next Tuesday (December 3), about young Afghanis in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan.
The improv theatre group fastfood Theater will be improvising on stage in the Weltsalon on December 7 (and again on December 20). I love improv (I’ve managed to see improv pros Crumbs a couple of times in Munich), and it’s sure to be a great deal of fun.
The Cambridge community choir Sing! is on tour in December, and they’ll be visiting Tollwood to sing a few carols and ensure everyone’s feeling Christmassy on December 8.
Melbourne’s mellow Tim McMillan is playing Tollwood on Tuesday, December 10, alas at 4.30pm – a bit too early if you have to work:
Samy Danger is helping bring in Christmas on December 23 – and I vote this as the gig of this winter’s Tollwood – he makes such lovely music:
Things quieten down after Christmas – but you can ring in 2014 at Tollwood, should you fancy doing so. Samy Danger will be back to help you do so.
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