Hojotoho!

My latest mix is now online. Venus Tunes Sessions is a monthly mix by Susanne Alt on Freak31, aired every first Sunday of the month at 19:00h. In addition, earlier Venus Tunes Sessions shows are repeated every Friday between 20:00-21:00 and Tuesday 21:00-22:00.Freak 31 has around 250 daily listeners (less during the week, more in the weekend) and a total of +10.000 listeners every month. In addition to Mixcloud and Hearthis, all mixes are also available as podcasts on Deezer and iTunes.It was in 2015 when I had my first official dj gig and since 2016 I started to perform regularly. This took place in Amsterdam's Skyybar, Floor17 and The Harbourclub Zuid... bit by bit, other places like Momo and W Amsterdam followed, leading to club bookings as a dj and festival bookings with Venus Tunes Live in the Netherlands and abroad. All of this in addition to my normal life as a musician. I love dj'ing as it adds another facet to my musicianship.Listen to all editions of the Venus Tunes Sessions where you like; choose your platform: Venus Tunes Sessions is a monthly guest mix by Susanne Alt on Freak31, aired every first Sunday of the month at 1900h. Streaming Dance, straight from Amsterdam. - I wanted to post this earlier but times were busy…A few weeks back I received a message by a former schoolmate at Matthias-Grünewald-Gymnasium Würzburg. I have been in touch with her over the years (thanks to social media) and saw her turning into a succesful opera singer, her name is Julia Rutigliano. She invited me to her concerts at Concertgebouw: Valerie Gergiev conducting Concertgebouw Orchestra, performing the third act of “Die Walküre” (In the photo she's the 5th from the left).2 Days before the concert we met, I picked her up at the hotel where she was chatting with the other Walküren; we went for a coffee and talked about our lives, and Wagner, how Julia didn’t grow up with Wagner, her father was a rock musician. When she was a teenager and picked up singing, she initially was much more into Italian opera and got into Wagner only during the last years when working together with famous conductor Zubin Mehta. I told her how I infact did grow up with Wagner music, and here I am: a saxophone player.Because of my own performances, I couldn’t make it to the actual concerts on Friday and Saturday night, gladly there was a public rehearsal at Friday, 9:30h in the morning. Waking up with Wagner. Actually, the whole Concertgebouw was packed, just the first rows and the rows behind the orchestra on stage were left empty, probably not to disturb the rehearsal.It was impressive, it was the first time I saw a piece of Wagner opera live. I really can imagine how my father got sucked into this music. Wagner's harmonies and instrumentations are just from another planet, the size of the orchestra is just surreal. It was only one act and it took about 75 minutes (I think), Wagner operas are known to be long..After my father fell in love with the music of Mozart, Wagner “hit” him, thanks to the radio. It was “Rheingold”, probably in the late 50's.During his entire youth he even spent 8 summers in Bayreuth. Initially he had written a letter to the Wagners and asked for piano scores, a contact started which resulted in visits to rehearsals and friendships. He loved the music and wanted to become a conductor. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.. It was a period where some of the legenday post war conductors and singers were there, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, Birgit Nilsson, a young Anja Silja.. In addition to the great Wagner music he also saw some of the family side of the Wagner clan..Winifred Wagner sometimes invited him for coffee and during these coffee sessions he saw a stange mix of guests coming by at Villa Wahnfried, the Wagner home, including old friends but also modern celebrities. If you read about her on Wikipedia, you will learn things which make your jaw drop. Let's just say that the elite always has been very connected.... People also refer to the Wagners are the Royals of Germany…BewarenBewaren