Audi 2009 Annual Report Download - page 111

108
70 voices become one. While re-
hearsing for the Berlin Fairy Tale
Days festival, the Audi youth
choir grows close, with many
new friendships formed.
There are some things that are
even more important than
chatting about boys or the
best disco in Berlin. Clara Horbach, 19,
who studies music and mathematics in
Munich, pushes away her half-eaten
portion of schnitzel, gets up from the
table, says “see you later” to her
friends, with whom she has been talk-
ing animatedly, and steals out from the
dining room as unobtrusively as possi-
ble. Outside, Clara crosses the lobby of
the Berlin-Wannsee Youth Hostel,
opens the heavy wooden door of the re-
hearsal room, sits down behind a grand
piano, takes out her music and starts to
play Bach’s “English Suite No. 3 in G mi-
nor.” From the start of the opening
bars, Clara closes her eyes, lowers her
head, and gently bends her back as if
she were a diver preparing to jump into
a sea of music that accompanies her,
into the deep where she can be alone.
Just her and the music.
Choir director Martin Steidler claps his
hands loudly to bring Clara back from
the depths of her musical bliss. Gone
unnoticed by Clara, he has been stand-
COPY/JAKOB SCHRENK
PHOTOS/URBAN ZINTEL
T
New German Wave
The Web 2.0 generation hits the right note. Anyone who makes it into the
Audi Youth Choir Academy is given artistic polish. Preconditions are natural
talent, a love for classical music and the willingness to work hard.