Finally singing again. Finally a concert again. This inspired not only the singers of the Erster Kölner Barbershop Chor, but above all the residents of the senior citizens' residence am Dom, to whom the male choir presented an unusual open-air concert in front of their own balcony.

Since at present no events can take place in the rooms of the senior citizens' residence, the twenty a cappella singers without further ado presented their songs in a so-called "balcony concert" touring around the house, singing on the Stolkgasse, the Postprivatstraße and in the inner and outer courtyard of the senior citizens' residence. The applause from above was certain for the handsome gentlemen, as they were able to carry the residents away a little from their sometimes dreary Corona everyday life with their skillful singing. The singers scored particularly well with the Cologne versions of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" or the Bläck Fööss classic "Dat Wasser vun Kölle". But also Queens "Don't Stop Me Now" let one or the other rock along.

"I think that's great," said resident Hilde Winkels, who was flicking along the rhythm at the side of the road and would have loved to sing along with the choir. "But unfortunately it's only a male chorus." For the musical director Matthias Neuburger, the performance at the Residenz is an important addition to the rehearsals, which were suspended between March and June due to the pandemic. "We started rehearsing carefully again in summer with a reduced crew," he says. "With distance and in the open air." That was difficult, he says. The singers were out of practice and singing outside was acoustically problematic, especially with such a small choir subset. In order to stay on the singing course, the choir decided to ask senior citizens' residences whether there was any interest in a small concert outdoors. "We accepted directly when the request came in", says Florian Vogel from the Residenz am Dom's residents' service. Result after one hour open-air concert: Capo calls from the balcony!

Text and photography: Roland Meurer, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger