Die Coolen Streicher
Playing in the orchestra right after the first violin lesson
Angelika founded the children's and youth orchestra Die Coolen Streicher in 1992. Here, children and young people between the ages of five and 19 play violin, cello, viola and double bass together. They play without a conductor and without sheet music, there is no first and especially no second violin. There is no orchestra hierarchy, but godparents. The big ones help the little ones. So they learn as children to give themselves the cues, not to stare at their music stands, but to look at each other while playing. You can hear that. There are children playing who have only had one lesson and young people who are just preparing for the entrance examination to a music academy. Some can barely hold their instrument and pluck one note per bar on the empty string, others play virtuoso thirty-two position runs through all registers.
Angelika writes the arrangements and everyone gets a voice that suits their abilities. The repertoire ranges from Bach to Piazzolla to Hillbilly, and a selection of these arrangements has been published by Breitkopf & Härtel under the title Flexible Strings.
Since their formation, the Cool Strings have won many first prizes with distinction at the Hamburg Instrumental Competition. In 2004, they were honored at the Frankfurt Music Fair by German President Johannes Rau with the inventio (promotional prize of the German Music Council) as Germany's most innovative music project. In 2009, the orchestra received the special prize of the Hubertus Wald Foundation.
Together with Salut Salon, they have given numerous benefit concerts, e.g. at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. In 2005, the Cool Strings toured South America and played with children from Chile on a return visit to Germany, including a performance with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.