Georg Kleesattel & Martin Stellmacher: Beers and Ballads
Behind the program Beers & Ballads by Georg Kleesattel (vocals) and Martin Stellmacher (piano and vocals) lies an evening filled with music, curious stories, and the odd glass of beer. The two musicians from Munich perform classics of rock and pop history – reduced to what makes these songs special. Okay, it’s not just ballads… and there’s not just beer… The selection of the program draws from different sources.
On one hand, there are extraordinary cover versions of worldwide hits like "Boys of Summer," "Since You’ve Been Gone," or "Slave to Love," which have inspired the two musicians in their program. The range of other artists and bands extends from global stars like Meat Loaf to the hard rockers of Queensryche.
On the other hand, Stellmacher and Kleesattel also draw from songs in their joint band programs Tommy Who! and Prognostic. The former is a concert version of the rock opera Tommy by the British cult rockers The Who. The other project pays tribute to the prog rock of the 70s and its artists like Peter Gabriel and David Bowie. These songs also develop their own character in the reduced arrangement of piano and voice.
The first public performance of songs from the Beers & Ballads program was celebrated by the duo in front of an enthusiastic audience as part of the Langen Nacht der Musik in Munich on May 6 in the Silbersaal of the Deutsches Theater.
Martin Stellmacher
He started his musical career with a classical-oriented education in piano, clarinet, and various choirs. However, he was drawn early on to the world of rock music. He financed his studies (he has a doctorate in "Space Physics," just like Brian May) through weekly performances in the show band STARLIGHT. In 1995/96, he took jazz piano lessons from Herb Mickman (musical director for Sarah Vaughn) in Los Angeles. After that, he got involved in various projects, such as an 80s cover band, a swing/standard jazz project, and a musical production (Miss Saigon, Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber). From 2005 to 2015, he worked as a keyboardist, saxophonist, and flutist for BIG BAD WOLF. In 2016, he founded the band PROGNOSTIC – dedicated to early progressive rock (Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Kansas, Jethro Tull, and others). As a keyboardist, he has found his calling in this complex and demanding style.
Georg Kleesattel
Since founding his first band at the age of 15 at the artistic Gabrieli Gymnasium in Eichstätt, Georg Kleesattel has been almost continuously active as a singer in various musical projects. The range in which he has already moved and continues to move ranges from blues to soul and funk to hard rock and rock musicals. Among other roles, he has appeared on stage as Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Show and as Judas from Jesus Christ Superstar.
Since 2014, he has also been one of three singers in the Austropop band Austria EI, with which he regularly performs sold-out concerts in his home region of Altmühltal and has also been literally heating up the Hexenkessel at the Munich Winter Tollwood for three years. In 2018, Georg Kleesattel joined the Munich band PROGNOSTIC as the lead singer. Together with pianist Martin Stellmacher and bassist Arno Baum, he finally launched the band project Tommy Who! in 2019, fulfilling a dream that was more than 20 years old.
Admission: 18:30
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
