37 years after his first concert with drummer Gerry Hemingway in 1989, pianist Georg Graewe is celebrating his 70th birthday with two concerts at the LOFT. A long-standing, fruitful collaboration and friendship has developed over the years, documented by numerous concerts and CD recordings. He was the first pianist to discover and use the Steinway grand piano (at that time still an A-grand) for himself and his projects. He also took care of the flowers in our apartment while we were on vacation; we took over his apartment at Burg Arenfels (Bad Hönningen) and then returned it to him after his return from San Diego. And although he has been living in Vienna for a very long time, he still feels a close connection to the LOFT—he wrote this to us on the occasion of his birthday concerts:
It often takes individuals with ideas, courage, and passion—and, of course, perseverance—to build something lasting. We’re familiar with such catchphrases from the business world, but there the focus is on profit, and often not much else remains after a while. In contrast, the LOFT and its founder, Hans Martin Müller, are still around, even though his son Benedikt has since taken the helm. The euphemistic label “idealism” would be an understatement given what has been and continues to be accomplished here—including for the image of the city of Cologne, which should be kissing their feet.
I think it was the drummer Thomas Witzmann who first told me about the LOFT. From 1987 to 1989, I was involved in two productions at the Schauspielhaus in Cologne, and Witzmann played the marimba in my instrumental ensemble. I then played one of the first concerts there with Gerry Hemingway—on November 9, 1989, while in Berlin, suddenly and to everyone’s astonishment, a huge crowd of people was walking through the Brandenburg Gate. Since then, I’ve given many concerts at the LOFT; in the early years, I also attended and watched performances there, and at times even lived there. Not least because of the excellent grand piano and the first-class studio equipment, a great many of my productions were created there, some of them for WDR as well… (yes, that used to happen…) And when I founded my label “Random Acoustics” in March 1993—which had its office on the second floor of the LOFT from 1995 to 1997—these activities intensified. And that’s how it’s remained to this day. And it just keeps going and going and going …