„GreenHaven – Artists United“
clockwise from top left: Laura Marti, Womens’ Choir „Ukraine“, Richie Beirach, Heather O’Donnell
Sponsors | Artists | Information
"GreenHaven - Artists United" is the inaugural event for a residency program for refugee artists in Cologne. It will take place on March 25, 2023 from 6 pm-11 pm at CLOUTH 104 in Cologne-Nippes (and via live stream):
TGR (THE GREEN ROOM) is a non-profit support center for performing artists encountering crisis situations and a first point of contact for artists who wish to build a new artistic life in Germany after leaving oppressive situations. Immediately after the start of the war of aggression on Ukraine, artists found their first artistic home away from home at the TGR.
The event "GreenHaven - Artists United" presents performances, talks as well as exhibitions by friends of the Green Room. Ukrainian-Armenian jazz singer and activist Laura Marti performs with Ukrainian jazz pianist Nataliya Lebedeva. American jazz legend Richie Beirach, also of Ukrainian descent, performs his own works. The women's choir "Ukraine" performs together with dissident musicians Maksim Andreenkov and Anastasiia Kolabanova. The initiator and director of The Green Room, pianist and psychologist Heather O'Donnell, performs the solo variations of the American composer Frederic Rzewski: "The People United will Never be Defeated".
Visual artists Evgeny Ivanovich Rakhmanin and Olena Shchehlova will exhibit their works at the event.
Paintings of Evgeny Ivanovich Rakhmanin
Paintings of Olena Shchehlova
Background of the Project: “GreenHaven – Artists United“
The project is a three-year (2023-2025) initiative funded by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) that enables stage artists with an immigrant background to act as facilitators for the connection and integration of other immigrants. The artists are offered a residency at the Green Room, where they work with members of the same background to initiate and strengthen integrative processes. Every year, 8-10 artists are invited to a residency, where they have the opportunity to explore new artistic paths with their community of refugees who have fled to Germany.
The meeting of artists and communities from different cultural fields offers a creative space for mutual support, learning experiences, exchange, integrative processes and networking.
There is no admission fee for this concert. However, we will gladly accept donations to support our GreenHaven Artists Residency program here or at the event.
Please book your seat here:
Partners and Sponsors:
This event was selected for the patronage of the German UNESCO commission.
Artist Biographies
In addition to the artistic presentations, the biographies and exile experiences of the artists will be the focus of the performances at the inaugural "GreenHaven" event.
Laura Marti is a Ukrainian singer and composer of Armenian descent who is beloved in Ukraine and abroad. She was born in Kharkiv in 1987. She had to leave her homeland two times as a refugee. Since 2022 she lives in Cologne and shares her experience in the field of Jazz with musicians from Ukraine as well as international artists.
Marti has released five studio albums, participated in two other albums and produced a large number of singles. She is a member of Nataliya Lebedeva's Trio.
She has collaborated with Bobby McFerrin, Lars Danielsson and Magnus Öström, among others. ELLE UKRAINE magazine named Laura Marti the "Best Female Vocalist of 2017." Since February 2022 Laura Marti supports humanitarian projects and helps her compatriots through fundraising.
Nataliya Lebedeva is a renowned Ukrainian jazz pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader. She has participated in numerous international jazz festivals and has initiated many jazz projects involving prominent Ukrainian musicians. She has also created programs based on the works of Bach, Chopin and Ukrainian folk songs, among others. These unusual projects have been performed in collaboration with international musicians.
Lebedeva taught at the Kiev Municipal Academy Of Music for many years.
She has released 4 studio albums and participated as a pianist on jazz CDs. Her technically demanding music contains experimental parts as well as unexpected dramatic transitions and reflects various emotional nuances, providing the audience with a unique atmosphere.
Richard "Richie" Beirach was born on May 23, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York City and began playing piano at the age of 5. In the mid-1960s, Beirach entered the New York club scene, playing with Freddie Hubbard and Lee Konitz, among others, while also working occasionally as a longshoreman on the docks of New York. In 1967 he went to Boston to study at Berklee College Of Music, where Keith Jarrett and John Abercrombie were also enrolled. He stayed only one year at Berklee and returned to New York in 1968, where he began studying composition with Ludmilla Ulehla at the Manhattan School of Music, graduating with a "Master Of Music" in 1972. Soon after, he played in Stan Getz's band, along with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette. In 1973 he joined the group "Lookout Farm" of saxophonist Dave Liebman. "Lookout Farm" became one of the most outstanding groups of the fusion movement.
Richie's first solo album "Hubris" was released in 1977. At that time he toured with Chet Baker, John Scofield and John Abercrombie, among others. In the 1980s, Richie Beirach increasingly distinguished himself as a solo artist and focused on collaborating with David Liebman in the band "Quest", which they formed together in 1981. Until their breakup in 1991, the band recorded six albums: including "Quest" " and "Of one Mind": touring Europe, Asia, South and North America.
Richie has mostly worked with two different trios: together with his fellow musicians George Mraz (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) he recorded the album "The Snow Leopard" in 1996. It was followed by "Romantic Rhapsody" and "What is this thing called love", which showed a fresh look at standards and some original compositions. "No borders" (2002), on the one hand, focuses on classical pieces as a basis for improvisations and, on the other hand, also contains an original composition composed entirely by Beirach: "Steel Prayers", a piece for the victims of 9/11.
Richie Beirach retired from his professorship in Leipzig in 2014 and has been living in Hessheim, Germany since 2015. He will present his compositions at the inaugural event "GreenHaven".
When the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, many Ukrainians were forced to flee their homeland. In Germany, after a short time, the women's choir "UKRAINE" was formed. The choir director Oksana Dondyk is an honorary artist of Ukraine, a professional musician, a classical singer as well as a director of children's and professional choirs. By establishing the new group in Germany, she pursues the goal of popularizing Ukrainian national music, promoting Ukrainian culture and communicating to the world the richness and beauty of Ukrainian cultural heritage. Another factor in the foundation of the women's choir UKRAINE: young Ukrainian women with extensive musical education should be attracted to the choir work.
Heather O'Donnell is a pianist, psychologist, and the director of TGR The Green Room. As a pianist between 1995-2010, she has performed with the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, and the Harvard University Orchestra, among others, and has given piano recitals in Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kraków, Amman, and Abu Dhabi.
O'Donnell ended her career as a pianist in 2010 due to long-term injuries and chronic pain. She then studied psychology at Freie Universität Berlin and received a master's degree in prevention and health psychology from SRH Fernhochschule and a certificate in musician's health from the Kurt Singer Institute / University of the Arts in Berlin. She is a meditation teacher and in training as an artistic-systemic therapist.
On March 25, she will perform American composer Frederic Rzewski's opus magnum, "The People United will never be Defeated." In 1975, Rzewski wrote this 60-minute set of variations on the Chilean folk song "¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!" by Sergio Ortega and Quilapayún as a tribute to the Chilean protest movement. Rzewski writes: "The extended length of the composition may be an allusion to the idea that the unification of people is a long story and that nothing worth gaining is acquired without effort".
O'Donnell's reflections on GreenHaven's inaugural event: "Since we began supporting Ukrainian artists in March 2022, I have been greatly impressed by the strength, creativity and solidarity of the artists. The Green Room thanks the musicians we’ve encountered - our friends - for transforming an extremely difficult situation - leaving their homeland under unsafe and stressful conditions - into expressive, connective and meaningful art forms. We are deeply grateful for every performance, every discussion, every conversation, and every connection we have had and continue to have with them since this wretched war began. We look forward to supporting courageous artists of all nationalities through GreenHaven artist residencies in the years to come."
Information
The concert will take place in the Coworking-Office in CLOUTH 104 on the first floor.
You are welcome to attend the entire 5-hour concert. If you would like to attend only one event, please come and go during the breaks.
The concert will be live streamed. The live-stream can be found here.
Program:
18:00 - 18:10 : Opening remarks on the patronage of the German UNESCO for GreenHaven: Dr. Roman Luckscheiter, General secretary of the German commission of UNESCO
18:10 - 19:10: Frederic Rzewski, “The People United will Never be Defeated”, Heather O’Donnell, piano
19:35: Womens’ Choir “Ukraine”; Maksim Andreenkov, Anastasiia Kolabanova & Amina Chobanzade
20:20: Richie Beirach
21.45: Laura Marti & Natalia Lebedeva
Seating is limited please reserve a spot here:
The entire concert lasts about 5 hours. If you want to attend the whole concert, select 18 and 20:15 when making your reservation.
If you can only join us for part of the concert, please pick 18:00 or 20:15
There is no admission fee for this concert. However, we will gladly accept donations to support our GreenHaven Artists Residency program here or at the event.
Drinks and snacks will be available at the bar.
The venue is barrier-free.
Parking is available in the Parkhaus beneath COUTH 104, accessible via Seekabel Strasse.