The Ballad of the Young King Gambrinus | singing bowed & fretted string quartet | 9″ | 2019
commissioned | Invoke string quartet & the Beerthoven Concert Series, Austin TX
premiered | Invoke @ Beerthoven Concert Series, Saengerrunde Hall, Austin TX
recording | Invoke @ Fox Cabaret, Vancouver BC
My freshly-emigrated Pomeranian grandparents prospered in the new world, schlepping kegs for the greatest beer company of all time: Pabst Blue Ribbon. To this day, the Pabst courtyard is presided over by a German-American icon—King Gambrinus, the Patron Saint of Beer—depicted in cast aluminum as should be all great men.
Neither truly a saint nor a king, Gambrinus’s story was one of legend: a failed musician and scorned lover overcome by despair, captured in the plot of a disguised devil. Radically underappreciated (until now), his unquestionably true, absolutely provable journey is recounted by invoke in narrative song.
Additional Performances:
Invoke @ Beerthoven Concert Series, Saengerrunde Hall, Austin TX
Invoke @ Clefworks, Montgomery AL
Invoke @ Portland Chamber Music Festival Sal(o)on Series, Maine Craft Distilling, Portland ME
Invoke @ Missouri Theater, Columbia MO
All solo, chamber, and large ensemble works have score, parts, & relevant media available for purchase. Please contact me at nikodschroeder@gmail.com with inquiries. I’m happy to get my music in your hands!
Niko D. Schroeder 