Sjaella comes to Snow Concert Hall for an unforgettable, one-night event. Photo: Lara Müller.
When six young girls from Leipzig formed a small singing group for fun in 2005, they never imagined their playful side project would one day lead to international stardom.
But nearly two decades later, Sjaella – the German all-female a cappella ensemble – has become, in the words of ABC Classic, “the hottest thing in classical vocal music”.
Soon they’ll bring their acclaimed vocal artistry to Canberra’s Snow Concert Hall for a one-night performance of their new program Among the Branches.
To the uninitiated, a cappella might conjure scenes from Pitch Perfect or Glee, where pop hits are belted out with beatboxing and big dance numbers. But Sjaella offers something different – an intricate, ethereal sound world created entirely by voice, with arrangements that span centuries and continents.
The group’s roots go deep. Most of the members met as young children in their hometown choir in Leipzig as early as age four.
In 2005, aged between 12 and 14 and inspired by the The King Singers’ album The Beatles Connection, six of them formed their own group.
“We just wanted to do something outside of the bigger choir – a fun space with less structure,” Sjaella founding member Viola Violetta says.
“At the time it was a playful, childlike experience. We certainly weren’t thinking about stardom.”
Their first big performance in a hometown church set the wheels in motion and eventually they started mini tours and concerts.
“Now and then, it would take us out of school for a day or two,” fellow founding member Charlotte Seidel says.
“As young girls, that was very exciting. We started to realise we were a real a cappella group.”
The group performs music spanning time and place like never before. Photo: Snow Concert Hall.
The turning point came in 2009, when they placed third in a major annual international a cappella competition in Leipzig. As part of the festival surrounding the competition, they witnessed professional a cappella groups in action.
It was an awakening.
“We were inspired,” Viola says. “That’s when we realised this could really be something.”
The group went on to win major international competitions, including a triumphant return to the annual Leipzig competition.
Over the years, they evolved artistically and collaborations with composers became the hallmark of their work. They became known for performing centuries-old music like it’s never been heard before, arranged specifically for their sextet.
Canberra audiences can expect a variety of styles and sounds.
“Among the Branches is about nature and our connection to it, the essence of what nature means to us and how it can affect us,” Viola says.
Listeners will hear new compositions of everything from arias of the baroque and Renaissance periods to folk songs from Europe, in languages from English to French and Italian, as well as languages they would never hear otherwise.
“For example we’ll sing a song in Basque – an endangered language from Spain – and extinct dialects of German and Finnish … it’s a way we can keep these languages alive,” Viola says.
“It’s a light-hearted program and very entertaining, but has a profound effect.”
Viola says a cappella gives audiences the chance to experience the transcendent and limitless nature of the human voice.
“Humanity has used its voice for expression as long as it has existed; it isn’t restricted by genres or eras, and has such strong expressive possibility,” Viola says.
“It can reach into hearts very directly, and that’s very powerful.”
Sjaella — Among the Branches takes place at Snow Concert Hall on Wednesday 23 July at 7 pm. Book via Humanitix.
