The 30th Classic Open Air at Gendarmenmarkt will be so beautiful

By Dirk Krampitz

Managing director Mario Hempel (62), on the other hand, no longer takes the orders of managers quite so seriously since the American jazz-pop star Al Jarreau (82) had ordered almost nothing but eco-organic vegetables “freshly pulled from the ground”. Because the first thing the artist himself asked was: “Where’s the ‘pork leg’?” “Of course he got his knucklebone,” says Mario Hempel and laughs.

Classic Open Air has been on the Gendarmenmarkt for 30 years. The first time the stage was in front of the French cathedral. “I was scared of Schiller,” says Kampf. He means the statue that stands on the square. In the meantime, they simply set up the rows of chairs to the left and right of Schiller. But for the past two years, the chairs have stayed in the warehouse. Because of Corona.

“We are familiar with disasters. Something often happens at the last moment and it all works out in the end,” says Hempel. The entrepreneur, who runs a catering company, among other things, paid 150,000 euros for the two missing years. “A lot of money went down the drain.” Gerdschlacht comments with a quote from “Die Fledermaus”: “Happy is he who forgets what cannot be changed.”

But on Thursday it starts with classic, pop & evergreens with Max Mutzke, Katharine Mehrling and Joja Wendt at the “First Night”.

The program is largely the same as that planned for 2020. Only Monday has changed completely. Actually, a “Russian Night” was planned. Now it’s “Let it Swing” with Tom Gaebel, the Big Band of the Deutsche Oper and Andrej Hermlin and the orchestra. It was always about building musical bridges between classical and other musical genres.

“70 percent of the people who are in our square rarely or never go to the opera,” says Kampf. “Young people come here too and realize that such a classical orchestra doesn’t hurt at all.” And although they naturally rely on a rather catchy repertoire, they also dare to experiment from time to time: they have their frank with Belgian pop singer Helmut Lotti -Zappa evening cross-subsidized with his last unreleased work.

And all of that in front of the atmospherically lit concert hall, between the cathedrals. “The square is the event, the location is extremely important,” says Hempel. The residents watch from the windows, counter-tenor Jochen Kowalkski once received flashing applause from the construction workers on the surrounding cranes.

But it has to be over at 10:30 p.m. Otherwise there is a fine of 50,000 euros. “You can imagine how nervous I am checking my watch backstage,” admits Kampf. “Earth, Wind & Fire” were just too exemplary. They brought a countdown clock and finished their third encore to the second.

Professionals know that you don’t leave the organizer out in the rain, Petrus doesn’t. Every visitor thinks they have experienced a concert in the rain. According to Gerhard Kampf’s personal statistics, only 12 out of 167 concerts rained. for example, that of Diana Ross’ companion volume The Supremes. Apparently, the trio’s green pumps weren’t colourfast. After the show, they came to Gerhard Kampf with a laugh and pointed to their green feet: “You turned us into frogs.”

There will be no classical music on the Gendarmenmarkt for the next two years. The place is being renovated. But the negotiations about alternative quarters are well advanced: It all looks as if festival director Gerhard Kampf would then do the calming rounds with the classical music stars before the concerts at the Lustgarten.