Max Raabe
Biography Max Raabe
Max Raabe
born 1962 in Lünen, has always sung - in the youth choir and on his bicycle.
Max Raabe moved to Berlin in his early twenties to study opera. He financed his studies with small performances and in 1986 he founded the Palast Orchester with some fellow students.
In 1992 Max Raabe wrote his first hit “Kein Schwein ruft mich an” (Why Does No One Call) and appeared on stage in Heinrich Mann´s “Der blaue Engel” (Blue Angel) under the direction of Peter Zadek .
Parallel to the increasing success and international career with the Palast Orchester, Max Raabe gives concerts with pianist Christoph Israel. Their duo-CD “Über´s Meer” (Over The Sea) was released 2010 by Universal / Decca.
Max Raabe´s commitment to the remembrance of 20s/30s music has received various awards. In particular he was presented with the ECHO Classic in 2000 for his interpretation of “Mack the Knife”, the Paul-Lincke-Ring of the City of Goslar in 2005, the cultural prize of his hometown Lünen in 2007, and in 2012 the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin.
Since 2007 Max Raabe has succeeded the German comedy-legend Loriot as honorary MC for the annual Berlin opera gala of the German AIDS foundation. He has also performed for many charity events amongst which are the Opera Village project in Africa founded by Christoph Schlingensief, Yehudi Menuhin´s Live Music Now and the Berlin City Mission. Max Raabe also supports the project Schools Against Racism and the initiative Children´s Home Romania.
In the summer of 2010 Max Raabe collaborated with producer, singer and composer Annette Humpe to compose, sing and produce music for the album “Küssen kann man nicht alleine” (One Cannot Kiss Alone), which was awarded Platinum in 2012. The successful duo´s second album “Für Frauen ist das kein Problem” (For Women It´s No Problem) was released in 2012 and won Gold a year later.
In summer 2017 Max Raabe teamed up with "pop specialists" Annette Humpe, Christoph Israel, Peter Plate, Ulf Leo Sommer, Daniel Faust and Achim Hagemann. Together they wrote the album "Der perfekte Moment .. wird heut verpennt" (literally "sleeping through the perfect moment") which will be released 27.10.2017.
Das Palastorchester
The Palast Orchester was founded in 1986 by Max Raabe and a group of fellow music students in order to play music from the period of Germany´s Golden Twenties.
In 1992 they found themselves in the German charts with their song “Kein Schwein ruft mich an” (meaning “not a single pig calls me”), written by Max Raabe. Teaming up with film director Sönke Wortmann two years later for the film “Der bewegte Mann” (The Most Desired Man) made them known to an even wider audience.
1997 Max Raabe & Palast Orchester celebrated their 10th anniversary in the sold out open air arena Waldbühne in Berlin.
Concert tours abroad were soon to follow, the number of which clearly increased after the year 2000. At this time Max Raabe & Palast Orchester received an ECHO award for their CD “Charming Weill” and also scored well in international charts with two albums on which they interpreted modern pop songs in the style of the 20s. Specially their versions of “Sex Bomb”, “Kiss” and “Super Trouper” are asked for frequently to this day.
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester tour regularly to the USA and Canada where they give concerts in famous venues like Chicago Symphony Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco and New York´s Carnegie Hall.
In the past, concert tours have also taken them to China, Japan, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Holland, France, England and most recently to Scandinavia and the Baltics.
In 2010 a successful tour to Israel attracted much attention and was documented on film. "Max Raabe in Israel" opened the Jewish Film Festival Berlin-Potsdam 2011 and was also shown at similar events in other cities, for instance at the Film Festival Jerusalem.
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester have released a number of DVDs. These are live concert recordings from Berlin´s open air venue Waldbühne, Festspielhaus Baden Baden (the show “Palast Revue”) and Admiralspalast Berlin, an original theater from the 20s where “Heute Nacht oder nie” (Tonight Or Never) and “Eine Nacht in Berlin” (A Night In Berlin) were filmed. Most recently this fitting venue also set the scene for their 2016 production “Let´s Do It” which is currently running on US TV as one of the PBS pledge shows.
In February 2017 Max Raabe & Palast Orchester brought out their latest show "Das hat mir noch gefehlt" (Oh no, not that!). The title inspired them to initiate a public voting for which they put the more than 600 compositions of their repertoire online and asked fans to choose their favorites. The songs with the most votes have found their way into the present show.
In January 2018 the new show "Der perfekte Moment .. wird heut verpennt" will be brought to the road in German speaking countries. It is named after the newest album written by Max Raabe and friends and will include a number of Max Raabe songs mixed with the repertoire of the 20s/30s.
