Wiltrud Weber

In 2002, Wiltrud Weber stood on stage at the Konzerthaus Berlin singing the solo soprano part in “Stabat Mater” by Antonin Dvorak. Looking out at the audience she had a revelation. Despite a lifelong devotion, passion and deep respect for the classical canon, she suddenly questioned whether she would ever be content restricting her voice to its exacting and time-honored conventions. There was something missing- a freedom, an exhilaration. So, engulfed in applause on one of the world’s preeminent stages, Wiltrud decided her voice and her heart needed to explore.
This was not an easy choice. Wiltrud had devoted her life to her classical training. The winner of the coveted Karl Erb Stiftung music scholarship, she had studied classical singing and piano at the Freiburg and the Frankfurt Music School. She had performed as a solo soprano in oratorios, song recitals and operas with high-profile ensembles and orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra.
Yet, after an extensive period of self-examination that included long, meditative stays in India, Wiltrud ultimately decided she needed the freedom to both express herself and connect on a heart-to-heart level with an audience—something that was not always possible within the classical canon.
So, like many great German artists before her, Wiltrud made the journey from Berlin to New York City, the crossroads of the world. On a small Times Squares stage, she began a journey that would ultimately bridge her operatic ground with the global pulse and rhythms of New York.
Her background was a passport of sorts into a circle of international producers and musicians. She began to write her own music while performing and recording with a wide range of world-class talent like Freddie Scott (“Hey Girl”, NYC Soul Legend), Donald Guillaume (drummer for the Fugees and Wyclef Jean), and Chieli Minucci (Special EFX).
What followed was an intense period of creativity that found Wiltrud bouncing back and forth across the Atlantic. In Berlin, she joined forces with violinist ‘Frau Schmitt’ from the rock band “Subway to Sally” and Berlin producer Janzoulou (Hansa Tonstudio Berlin) to record and produce a selection of her own songs. Singing in numerous languages, she developed what one critic called “Global Cabaret” and began performing at The Gershwin Hotel in New York City. She also regularly performs at the Bodensee Festival in Germany with jazz violinist Gregor Huebner, captivating audiences with a refreshing blend of classical traditions and jazzy/world music beats.
Then, in April 2007, Wiltrud met Jephté Guillaume of Tet Kale Records. She had been working with two of his brothers, Duke and Donald, in a New York studio two years earlier. When they heard her voice they immediately thought of Jephté. Yet Wiltrud’s and Jephté’s hectic international schedules kept them both in a wide variety of different time zones and nearly two years passed before the pair would meet. When they did finally find themselves in New York at the same time, Wiltrud asked Jephté to do a remix of one of the songs she had recorded in Berlin and he agreed. But before long, what began as a simple remix turned into a full-blown, original production. The result was “Blue and Deep”, a single that almost immediately found heavy rotation at the 2008 Winter Music Conference in Miami, set fire to international dance floors, and was featured on BBC Radio, London.
After Wiltrud’s soaring vocals and Guillaume’s wild, Afro-Haitian instrumentation and production, received critical and popular acclaim, there was no question the pair would record an album. The second single, “It’s a New Year”, was released in December 2008 and continued to fearlessly blend Weber’s “Germanic, trance-inducing” vocals and Guillaume’s intricately organic beats and melody.
Already receiving heavy club play, “It’s a New Year!” has also garnered rave reviews by critics such as Michael Terzian of Underground House Magazine who wrote, “On their sophomore release, the two deliver the goods once again. Weber's voice thunders and soars in divine fashion as Jephté provides the gorgeous musical scenery. At over 10 minutes, the ‘main vokal’ will quench those who just want to hear those haunting bellows by Wiltrud, whereas the 13-minute dub version will surely be worked in any form or fashion! A priceless aural painting!”
Wiltrud and Guillaume’s much-anticipated 2009 album“Berlin in New York” is tentatively slated to be released in late spring or early summer. In the meantime, Weber continues to split her time between Berlin and New York City, performing, writing, recording and, most recently, filming a video for “Blue and Deep”.
“It is in singing that I experience these most blissful moments of Oneness,” Wiltrud explains. “Moments when there is nothing in-between anymore, nothing between myself and the audience, between myself and the microphone...when the sound going through my body transports me into this liberated, fearless and uplifted state of mind and when I am able to share this in a direct exchange from soul to soul with the ones who listen.”
Joe Claussell playing "Blue and Deep" in Miami at the WMC, March 2008
Louie Vega and "Blue and Deep" from Wiltrud Weber on Vimeo