Events

(All in Switzerland)

Ragtime Dinners, Miller’s Studio Zürich
September Fr 12 & Sa 13, 2008

These Ragtime-Emotion gala dinners will delight with ragtime and with silent movies!

Cocktails and an excellent three course dinner will be served at tables of eight. The wine house Divo will provide an interesting selection of wines from France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Price for one ticket of CHF 125.- includes cocktails, dinner and seating. For children up to 16 years, ticket price is 110.- For address and location of Miller’s Studio please check www.millers-studio.ch (Kontakt).

To order tickets,
write to (Please provide full name and address, telephone number, number of tickets, dietary constraints). Tickets will be invoiced, then mailed after receipt of payment.

For a first time in Switzerland, we will present Jeff and Anne Barnhart. This will allow us to hear innovative fusion of ragtime and classic flute in concert! The Swiss Ragtime pianist Martin Jäger will introduce us to the good old times of silent movies and to his own compositions that are played throughout the ragtime world.

Program

from 18.30 Cocktails
19.00 Welcome, Silent movie
Martin Jäger
about 19.30 Appetizers
about 20.00 What’s Ragtime? An Introduction
Adagio, crescendo, prestissimo!
Martin Jäger, Jeff Barnhart
about 20.30 Main course
about 21.15 Ragtime & Classic: The Fusion
Amore con brio! Scherzando!
Jeff & Anne Barnhart
about 21.45 Dessert
about 22.15 Ragtime: The Finale
Teneramente, appassionato, grandioso!
Jeff & Anne Barnhart, Martin Jäger
about 22.45 End of performances

Jeff Barnhart is one of the most prominent ragtime performers in the United States and worldwide. He started his career with the age of 14 playing and entertaining four nights a week in a pub. There he made acquaintance with the classic swing, jazz and ragtime repertoire of the early 20th century. Jeff has been featured as both pianist and vocalist on over 50 full-length recordings.

Flutist Anne Barnhart holds both bachelor and master’s degrees in music. Anne is a member of the International Who’s Who in Music and Musicians in the Classical and Light-Classical Fields. Her musical experiences have taken her throughout the United States and places such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Russia, French Polynesia, South America, Canada, and France just to name a few.

Martin Jäger studied piano at the Conservatory of Music in Zürich, Switzerland. As a foreign exchange student near Seattle, he got acquainted with ragtime. Since 1996 Martin is a regular guest performer at ragtime festivals throughout the US. As a composer of many rags, he won second prize in the 2000 Scott Joplin Ragtime Composition Contest. He also played for Swiss TV and his rags were used as film soundtracks. Next to his career as a performer, Martin is professor of music at Kantonsschule Enge in Zürich.

June 26, 2007, Bern

Concert in the Embassy of the United States

During his presence in Switzerland in connection with public and private Ragtime Emotion concerts the American Ragtime virtuoso Bob Milne had the honor to perform in concert in the residence of he US Embassy, in the presence of four ambassadors (next to the US ambassador also those from UK, Argentina and Peru) an ex ambassador of the US and further guests. Bob delighted those present not only with his virtuosity and improvisation gifts, but also with the charms of a former bar pianist. During cocktails there was a good opportunity to discuss the influence of the USA on modern world culture! Everybody thanked ambassador Peter Coneway for a fantastic and inspiring evening.

June 15/16, 2007, Winterthur

Casinotheater Ragtime Dinner (www.casinotheater.ch)

The Ragtime-Emotion gala dinner was a journey into the good old times of silent movies and of ragtime. 100 years ago ragtime was the favorite popular music style in the USA. The first silent movies were also produced in those days, which were regularly accompanied by ragtime piano music. Bob Milne, the famous US ragtime pianist and his Swiss counterpart Martin Jäger took the audience to a journey into the worlds of Scott Joplin, Charlie Chaplin and George Gershwin. Rita Jäger completed the program with lively and funny ragtime songs. An excellent three course dinner was served by the kitchen of the Casinotheater.