Benjamin Koppel | "Anna's Dollhouse"

Anna’s Dollhouse is a new masterwork by Benjamin Koppel, featuring Blue Note recording artist Caecilie Norby and jazz legends Kenny Werner and Peter Erskine, Anna’s Dollhouse tells the fascinating story of Anna, the aunt of renowned Danish saxophonist-composer Benjamin Koppel.

Her life is depicted through nine songs, spanning nearly a century of her life. A string orchestra, arranged by Benjamin‘s father Anders Koppel, adds to the Joni Mitchell-esque flavors in the music, coupled with powerful solos from group members Peter Erskine (who has worked with Joni Mitchell) and Kenny Werner.

The compoisitions derive from numerous inspirations - 1930s cabaret, groovy souljazz, even pop music - yet it is completely original. Through Caecilie Norby’s voice and lyrics, Anna’s story comes to life, The vocalist demonstrates why she is one of Europe‘s finest.

Anna, born in 1921, lived a long and full life. When she was a piano-playing teenager, her parents arranged a marriage with the son of a Jewish French tailor family against her will. During World War II, in October 1943, she fled from the Nazis‘ occupied Denmark to Sweden, and became part of the resistance towards the end of the war. Despite being deeply in love with another man, a ”goy” (a non-Jewish person), she fulfilled her parents’ wish and married the frenchman she did not love. They remained married until the husband died in 2007, after 60 years of unhappy marriage. After her husband’s passing Anna re-blossomed, took control over her life, revived her passion for music and returned to the piano producing, and performing at concerts in her own house, approximately 60 kilometers from Paris. She was living a second youth. This is where Benjamin got to know her, as he visted her frequently. When she died in 2019, Benjamin promised to tell her story.

Their meetings and conversations inspired Benjamin, not only to compose this music but to write a novel, Anna’s Song, released by the biggest Danish publishing company, Gyldendal.

Anna‘s life is the story about escape, unfulfilled love, the oppression of women, and keeping hopes alive. It‘s about the expectations of family, about trust and dreams, and it is about music. Norby’s lyrics describe different aspects of Anna’s life. 

Anna’s Dollhouse was commissioned by the Jewish Cultural Festival in Copenhagen in 2018.