During my last visit to Malta I had the pleasure to meet two of Malta's leading singers of the semi-classical scene, as they like to emphasise on. On a windy winter day I met Julie and Ludwig.
As the interview went over more than an hour, I am not able to put all of it on this site. However, the best pieces you will find below. Oh, and if you like to read through the whole interview, you are very invited to download a pdf file at the end of this site.

Now enjoy a read through Julie's and Ludwig's best answers of our meeting!

Büttni: "How did you welcome the new year?"
Julie: "We went to eat. I mean nothing more. As for the past two years we decided not to work as singers. We wanted to enjoy it more."
Ludwig: "Just for Christmas and New Year's Eve we decided not to work."
Julie: "Although you could work even more. But we decided that!"
Ludwig: "So on New Year's Eve we went..." Julie: "...were invited..." Ludwig: "...for a dinner to a friend of ours whom we do some promotions for Armani and Dunhill. And he has this nice restaurant. It was just us and his family in his restaurant, so it was really peaceful."

Büttni: "Do you suffer from being popular?"
Julie: "It's nice, but sometimes a disadvantage on the other side. We enjoy meeting people and they stop by and say: 'I watched you on TV and you were doing well, very nice.' But on the other hand when we go somewhere, you go ina restaurant or whatever. Okay, they come and talk to you, but you have no privacy. They want to sit there with you for maybe two hours and talk. They put their plates there and start a conversation like 'Hey...'. Yeah, like that. We, when we are not working, try to find quietness."
Ludwig: "We try to find our own time and space."

Büttni: "How do you relax?"
Julie: "Okay, I go to his place..."
Ludwig: "To my place."
Julie: "Either he cooks, 'cause he likes to cook..."
Ludwig: "Then I get around five or six DVDs."
Julie: "And we choose..."
Ludwig: "We choose a DVD."
Julie: "And a good bottle of wine, maybe Glühwein."
Büttni: "Glühwein?"
Julie: "Yes, we were introduced to Glühwein."
Ludwig: "Well, and that's it."
Büttni: "But Malta and Glühwein?"
Ludwig: "For us it will be fine, because of the humidity."
Julie: "And then you get a good night of sleep after drinking. A full night long."
Büttni: "And how do you relax in summer?"
Julie: "In summer it is a bit of a problem. Either we go to Gozo for a couple of days, before the season starts, like June or May."
Ludwig: "Before school finishes. Before all the functions start cropping up. Because then the summer is a very good season for us. Then during summer we go, if we want to go, for example for a swim. We either go very late..."
Julie: "...or early in the morning."
Ludwig: "or early, like seven o'clock in the morning. But most of the times we go to another singer's house. His name is Renato. He is an old guy, who went in the Eurovision as well. And he has a big pool with his house. We just enjoy it, or do a barbecue. It's just us, him, a couple of other singers and the pets. And we can stay there, really relaxed, until what time we can. We can say whatever we want. It's really nice. Summer is amazing."
Julie: "Yeah! 'Cause here in summer you have these Ikel Malti, Maltese Nights, during Festas."
Ludwig: "In other countries you do the tours. You tour around. But a tour over here is very relaxed."
Julie: "...unless you have to go to Gozo."
Ludwig: Yes, unless you have to go to Gozo. But it's really nice. During the morning you are relaxed. And then in the evening you work."

Büttni: "And how about your job? You are teachers, right, but you don't teach all the time, do you?"
Ludwig: "We both work as teachers. But only in the winter season we teach, and we are lucky not to have long working hours. We finish at two o'clock in the afternoon. And then we start with our passion."
Julie: "And we have the theatre! So then in the afternoon and evening you can work until eleven o'clock or even midnight, especially during technical rehearsals. That's very hard. You wake up at six o'clock in the morning to go to work, and you know, work till late in the eve."
Ludwig: "We have now arranged our jobs. We are still teachers, but especially in my job, I see a lot of kids. I am like a guidance councellor, dealing with child-abuse problems. I used to teach, before I had my second career, for only two years.I had my own class. But then with travelling and all that, it is not fair then on the children. So it's better like that. We have to live a compromise. And I have no problems with the education division, neither with the minister. He supportes us even during Eurovision. I didn't go to work obviously for those months. I got my permission and that stuff, and they really supported us over that. I'm very thankful."

Büttni: "So now you are into operas and musicals?"
Ludwig: "Musicals!"
Julie: "Musicals, not operas!"
Ludwig: "We can sing an opera, but it's another technique. Since we have studied voice, we know that opera is another technique. So technicallywise we know that we're wrong. We can still kep the rules."
Julie: "I prefer the semi-classical and musical theatre."
Ludwig: "It's better. If I am not a cook, I am not going to a four star hotel and try to cook, if I'm not a cook. I mean I can cook, but it's not what I can do best. Because it can do more damage than good."

Büttni: "What are your plans for this year, what do you have already marked in your schedule?"
Ludwig: "In April we will take part in the Masquerade musical which is actually a Broadway show. It will be for a short period of time, but it will be high class. Then there are the Maltese productions, which an artist must do as well. Because there you have the common people, who will then eventually buy your CD."
Julie: "Because the people who come to the MCC (=Mediterranean Conference Centre) or the Manuel Theatre are of a particular class."
Julie: "Last year we did the '1565 - The Great Siege' and this year a CD of this is going to be published."
Ludwig: "Then in April we will play in a musical about the life of Pope John Paul II. And in May we will be in Bulgaria again. In summer we hope to go to the UK."
Julie: "In early summer we will also perform together with the National Orchestra, then it will be of musicals again, of course, a mix of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and others. Other singers will be involved in this projetc, too. And then later on in the year ther eis another production in Gozo."

Büttni: "What are your plans for the future?"
Ludwig: "First we want to concentrate on our career. We also want to get married. But we are still young. ANd we are taking it easy. And as we said, we support each other. And then God does the rest. 'In God we trust', that's what we say."

The complete interview can be read here.

More infos about Julie and Ludwig you will also find on their website www.ludwigandjulie.com.

Information is correct at the time of publishing.