Isengart

German-born Isengart moved to New York in 1993 as a dance student and debuted as a cabaret singer in 1997.

His solo act frequently focuses on vintage German and French songs, which he sings in his own translations. First engagements included one-man-shows at traditional cabaret venues such as Don’t Tell Mama, the Duplex, the Triad, Eighty-Eight’s and Judy’s Chelsea. Eventually, Isengart hit the downtown lounge circuit with a blend of vintage songs and unusual interpretations of contemporary pop classics. His weekly solo shows ran for several months at venues such as the Starlight Lounge (both in 2000 and 2002) and Bar d’O (2001), leading to engagements at festivals in Vienna, Zurich and Cologne, and a performance at the New York premiere of the Marlene Dietrich documentary “Marlene – Her Own Song”.

In 2001, Isengart found a new home at Café Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie Museum, where he has since then presented nine different solo programs including an unauthorized one-man-version of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins; excerpts from Weill and Brecht’s other collaborations; one-man shows based on cabaret hits from the Weimar era; an homage to the late Hildegard Neff; an evening of Viennese Kaffeehausmusik and Lieder by Georg Kreisler; and the songs associated with legendary chanteuse Marlene Dietrich and UFA star Zarah Leander.

In 2002, Isengart headlined in Amy Goodheart’s ROUGE, a floorshow that toured New York City’s club circuit.

In 2003, Isengart brought his one-man show to his native Germany for the first to time. His Liederabend ran for three weeks at Berlin’s Spiegeltent Bar Jeder Vernunft and was broadcast on Deutschland Radio.

In 2005, Isengart created a new act based on the songs of the late German pop-countertenor Klaus Nomi, presented at Galapagos, Ace of Clubs and the BAMCafé.

Since 2006, he has been a frequent contributor to Weimar New York, a contemporary variety show produced by downtown impresario Earl Dax and presented at Joe’s Pub, Spiegelworld, and Galapagos in New York City, SFMoMA in San Francisco, and the Green Door club in Hollywood.

Isengart is the creative director and Master of Ceremonies of the itinerant New York cabaret Foreign Affairs (www.foreignaffairsnyc.com).

German cabaret star known for his darkly moving performances (New York Magazine )

– A Cabaret Sensation (Time Out New York)

- One of the most fascinating talents on the scene (New York Cabaret Press)

– A brilliant chanteur and dazzling star (HX Magazin)e

– Isengart proves that the chanson genre still holds surprises (Deutschlandradio)

– Isengart moves cabaret to a new level – beauty and form as well as performance.” (Thesaurus Magazine)

Isengart in concert

– German Cabaret: Songs from the collaborations of Brecht and Weill (Three-Penny Opera, Mahagonny, Happy End, The Seven Deadly Sins), noted Weimar era composers such as Friedrich Hollaender (The Blue Angel) and Mischa Spoliansky (Es liegt in der Luft), Marlene Dietrich’s and Hildegard Knef’s repertoire

– French chanson: interpreting the repertoire of Edith Piaf, Jaques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Juliette Greco, Leo Ferré, and Barbara

– Cabaret Nouveau: Cabaret-style interpretations of songs picked from a wide range of sources such as cartoon movies, the New Wave scene, Neue Deutsche Welle (German 80s pop), Rock, Jazz and Opera.