In the organizer's words:

Johannes "Schäng" Eßer - double bass, tuba, vocals | Gerhard Dierig - viola, violin, tenor horn, vocals | Jan Weigelt - piano, accordion, horn, vocals | Rudi Rumstajn - guitar, vocals


The Gürzenich Orchestra veterans Johannes "Schäng" Eßer and Gerhard "Gerrry" Dierig with Jan Weigelt and Rudi Rumstajn play classics and rarities of Cologne's "Krätzjerkultur" from Carl Wirts, Jupp Schmitz to the Bläck Fööss. Precious and delicious songs from the traditional Cologne song kitchen. Sometimes thoughtful, sometimes upbeat, sometimes quirky, but always with a rarely heard musicality. Suitable for singing along.

Johannes "Schäng" Eßer
In his "normal life", Johannes Eßer was the solo double bass player of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra and his main profession is more committed to the genre of classical music.He regularly makes excursions into other formats such as staged folk song and chanson evenings.In addition, Johannes "Schäng" Eßer and the other musical comrades-in-arms have made it their task as "Schängs Schmölzje" to cultivate the older, sometimes forgotten Cologne songs.

Gerhard "Gerrry" Dierig
Gerhard Dierig studied viola in Essen and Düsseldorf and passed his artistic final exams with Jürgen Kussmaul. He formed the Dierig Quartet with his siblings. He is also interested in singing: In recent years, Gerhard Dierig has sung roles such as Tamino in Mozart's Magic Flute and Alfred in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus. In various ensembles, he also devotes himself to music from the first decades of the 20th century, in particular classical and Hungarian operetta and sound film. He has been a member of the Gürzenich Orchestra since 1991 and also performs as a soloist.He is also a lecturer for viola at the Cologne University of Music.

Jan Weigelt
Jan Weigelt studied piano, French horn, theory and conducting at the Cologne University of Music and German language and literature at the University of Cologne from 1988-1995. During this time, he founded the independent music theater "Junge Musikbühne", with which he conducted performances of "Die Zauberflöte" and "Das Land des Lächelns". From 1989 to 1999, he conducted the Bonner Orchesterverein, which is primarily dedicated to early classical and classical works.Jan Weigelt conducted the youth wind orchestra of the Rheinische Musikschule Cologne and from 1988 to 1996 he was a member and teacher of the youth symphony orchestra of the Rheinische Musikschule. Two further professional focuses are his extensive activities as a piano accompanist, chamber musician and ballet pianist and arranger on behalf of the Cologne Children's Opera and the "Offenbach Ensemble". Since the premiere in 2004 in Cologne's Gürzenich, Jan Weigelt has conducted the "Great Beatles Concert Night" with the most famous Beatles hits arranged by him for orchestra and the highly successful Beatles band "Hard Days Night", which has been in existence for 25 years. Further engagements as a freelance conductor have taken him to Trier and to the South Westphalian and Essen Philharmonic Orchestras, where he has been organizing the annual RWE Matinee with his Rheinisch-Westfälisches Orchester and other international artists since 2010.

Rudi Rumstajn
Rudi Rumstajn comes from a Yugoslavian showman family with German Sinti roots. He came to Cologne on November 11, 1985, where he settled permanently for the first time and made a name for himself over the years as a guitarist, actor and co-founder of the "Gypsy Festival". The organizing team formed after the festival was founded is called the "Gypsy Festival Committee" in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Cologne Carnival Committee. He has worked with the Markus Reinhardt Ensemble, Maro Drom e.V. and HUMBA e.V. for many years.

Price information:

Tickets at 0221 93550417 or info@walterscheidt.net