Daniel Isengart

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| name = Daniel Isengart

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| image = Daniel Isengart.jpg

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| alt = Daniel Isengart at Don't Tell Mamma, NYC 1997.

| caption = At Don't Tell Mama 1997 in New York City.

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| birth_name = Daniel Bienert

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| birth_place = Munich, Germany

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| nationality = American

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| known_for = Cabaret singer, writer, performance coach

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| spouse = Filip Noterdaeme

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Daniel Isengart, born Daniel Bienert, is a performance coach, stage director, and culinary writer who became known as an entertainer in New York City's cabaret scene in the late 1990s.

Performing career

Isengart's early years were spent in Paris and Munich before moving to New York City in 1993 to study dance and join the city's thriving art scene.{{cite book |last1=Noterdaeme |first1=Filip |title=The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart |date=15 March 2013 |publisher=Outpost19 |isbn=9781937402488 |edition=1 |ref=0}} In 1997, he began performing one-man shows in New York City cabarets and made a name for himself as a specialist of the European Cabaret tradition,{{cite web |last1=Eder |first1=Bruce |title=Daniel Isengart Artist Biography |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/daniel-isengart-mn0001357325/biography?1630690125226 |website=All Music |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=1}} earning residencies in downtown nightclubs such as Bar d'O (by invitation of Joey Arias) and Starlight Lounge.{{cite web |last1=Isengart |first1=Daniel |last2=Tamburro. |first2=Michael |title=Isengart live at the Starlight Lounge, East Village, NYC 1999 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wGT8VgHGWQ |website=YouTube |date=23 January 2013 |publisher=Daniel Isengart |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=2}}

From 2001 to 2008, he was featured annually at the prestigious cabaret series presented at Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie New York.{{cite web |title=Best Place to Discover Teutonic Cabaret - Best of New York 2005 - Nightlife - Nymag |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/bony/nightlife/2005/11399/ |website=New York Magazine |date=3 March 2005 |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=3 |language=en-us}} This led to performances at venues such as BAMCafé at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Philadelphia Museum of Art,{{cite web |title=Art After 5 Unveils a Dazzling Autumn Lineup of International and Classic Jazz Performers |url=https://www.philamuseum.org/press/releases/2008/703.html |website=www.philamuseum.org |publisher=Philadelphia Museum of Art |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=5}} the Cleveland Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and New York University{{'s}} Deutsches Haus.{{cite web |title=BERLIN - CITY OF TWILIGHT, CONCERT WITH DANIEL ISENGART AND JEFFREY KLITZ |url=https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/deutscheshaus/cultural-program/events/fall-2013/berlin---city-of-twilight-concert-with-daniel-isengart-and-jeffr.html |website=Deutsches Haus at NYU |publisher=New York University |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=6}}

In 2008, he created, directed, and hosted a weekly, international variety show called Foreign Affairs, which started as a speakeasy in the loft of an artist collective in New York's Chinatown{{cite web |title=Foreign Affairs at The Canal Chapter |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rht5Wpt8C9M |website=YouTube | date=22 July 2008 |publisher=Foreign Affairs |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=7 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Imamura |first1=Lena |last2=Isengart |first2=Daniel |title=FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Cabaret |url=https://www.lenaimamura.com/foreign-affairs |website=Lena Imamura |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=8 |language=en}} before moving on to limited runs at the Gershwin Hotel and a supper club in Soho. A version of the variety show was presented by MoMA, featuring a fashion show Isengart commissioned from the artist Machine Dazzle.{{cite web |title=PopRally Presents: The Boulevard of Berlin Dreams |url=https://dezignark.com/blog/poprally-presents-the-boulevard-of-berlin-dreams/ |website=Dezign Ark |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art |ref=9 |date=23 November 2018}} Foreign Affairs culminated with a year-long residency in the lounge at the Night Hotel in Times Square, produced by Lee Chappell and co-hosted by singer Lady Rizo.{{cite news |title=Lee Chappell Brings FOREIGN AFFAIRS Back To NYC 12/14 |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/Lee-Chappell-Brings-FOREIGN-AFFAIRS-Back-To-NYC-1116-1214-20101213 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |publisher=Broadway World |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=10 |language=en}} In 2010, Isengart brought his cabaret-style tribute to Elvis Presley, titled The Importance of Being Elvis, to Joe's Pub, where it ran several times until 2011.{{cite web |last1=Sierra |first1=Gabrielle |title=Joes Pub Adds Amber Rubarth, Isengart & the Diplomats |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/Joes-Pub-Adds-Amber-Rubarth-Isengart-the-Diplomats-20100929 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=11 |language=en}}

Isengart frequently collaborates with Conductor Edwin Outwater, who in 2011 invited him to guest perform with Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman and the Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony.{{cite web |last1=Outwater |first1=Edwin |title=New Season |url=http://www.edwinoutwater.com/into/new-season-2/ |website=Edwin Outwater Blog |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=12 |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904083723/http://www.edwinoutwater.com/into/new-season-2/ |url-status=dead }} In 2012, Isengart starred as the chansonnier in Heinz Karl Gruber's song cycle, Frankenstein!!, presented by Edwin Outwater and the concert:nova ensemble at the Emery Theatre.{{cite news |last1=Hutton |first1=Mary Ellyn |title=Music in Cincinnati "Frankenstein!!" Comes to the Emery |url=http://www.musicincincinnati.com/site/reviews_2012/Frankenstein_Comes_to_the_Emery_printer.html |access-date=3 September 2021 |work=www.musicincincinnati.com |agency=The Cincinnati Enquirer |issue=1 |publisher=Music in Cincinnati |date=3 October 2012 |ref=13}} In 2020, Outwater invited Isengart to host and direct a winter series of performances of the Sun Valley Music Festival, featuring mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook.{{cite web |title=Announcing the 2020 Winter Season, February 27-29 |url=https://www.svmusicfestival.org/news_posts/2020-winter-season/ |website=Sun Valley Music Festival |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=14}}

Directing, coaching and teaching

Isengart was the stage director for chanteuse Yanna Avis from 2008 to 2015.{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |title=Evoking '50s Glamour, Through Teasing Taunts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/arts/music/yanna-avis-at-the-metropolitan-room-review.html |access-date=3 September 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=9 June 2011 |ref=15}} He staged his first opera, Die Fledermaus, with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony conducted by Edwin Outwater in 2016, and in 2018 he directed and hosted the orchestra's production of Carmen, under the baton of its new music director, Andrei Feher.{{cite web |last1=Feher |first1=Andrei |title=Notes From The Conductor: Carmen - Opera In Concert |url=https://kwsymphony.ca/resource/notes-from-the-conductor-carmen-opera-in-concert/ |website=KW Symphony |access-date=3 September 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Valerie |title=New twist on an old favourite |url=https://www.caledonenterprise.com/whatson-story/6229316-new-twist-on-an-old-favourite/ |access-date=4 September 2021 |work=CaledonEnterprise.com |publisher=Waterloo Region Record |date=12 January 2016 |language=en-CA}} Later that year, En Piste, the Canadian National Circus Alliance based in Montreal, invited Isengart to teach a group workshop about the "Art of the MC".{{cite web |last1=Fiset |first1=David |title=CV ARTISTE DE CIRQUE MULTIDISCIPLINAIRE |url=https://enpiste.qc.ca/medias/extendedprofilsub/cv_document/fr_DF_C.V._Novembre_2019.pdf |website=En piste |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=19 }}

Isengart works as a performance coach for opera singers and is a member of the faculty of Classic Lyrics Arts in New York.{{cite web |title=2021 Faculty |url=https://www.classiclyricarts.org/2021faculty |website=Classic Lyric Arts, Inc. |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=20 |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904083724/https://www.classiclyricarts.org/2021faculty |url-status=dead }} He teaches courses on historical performance at New York University.{{cite web |title=Life Is a Cabaret (THEA1-CE8502) {{!}} NYU SPS Professional Pathways |url=https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/courses/THEA1-CE8502-life-is-a-cabaret.html |website=www.sps.nyu.edu |publisher=NYU |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=21 |language=en |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904083724/https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/courses/THEA1-CE8502-life-is-a-cabaret.html |url-status=dead }} He is also a board member of the web interview series Living the Classical Life, hosted by Zsolt Bognár.{{cite web |title=Organization & Board |url=https://www.livingtheclassicallife.com/organization-and-board |website=Living the Classical Life |access-date=3 September 2021 |ref=22}}

Culinary career

As a young adult, living in Munich and studying interior design at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Isengart worked as chef for an Italian restaurant in the city's fashion district. Arriving in New York City in 1993, he worked for caterers such as Glorious Food and Daniel Boulud's Feast and Fêtes to support his dance studies and later began working part-time as a freelance private chef. In the 2000s he created the persona of the Foodcommander for a YouTube miniseries,{{cite web |title=Foodcommander |url=https://www.youtube.com/user/foodcommander |website=www.youtube.com |publisher=YouTube - Daniel Isengart |access-date=3 September 2021}} wrote a food blog for The Huffington Post,{{cite web |title=The Foodcommander Profile HuffPost |url=https://www.huffpost.com/author/daniel-isengart |website=www.huffpost.com |publisher=Huffington Post |access-date=3 September 2021 |language=en}} and, in 2018, authored a series of articles and a cooking advice column for Slate.{{cite web |title=Daniel Isengart |url=https://slate.com/author/daniel-isengart |website=Slate Magazine |publisher=The Graham Holdings Company |access-date=3 September 2021 |language=en}} In 2018 he wrote a culinary memoir in the style of The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book, published by Outpost19.{{cite book |last1=Isengart |first1=Daniel J. |title=The Art of Gay Cooking: A Culinary Memoir |date=2018 |publisher=Outpost 19 |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1944853495 |edition=1}}

Personal life

Isengart is married to Belgian artist, writer, and art history professor Filip Noterdaeme, who in 2014 wrote The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart, an adaptation of Gertrude Stein{{'s}} The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas published by Outpost 19. They live together in Brooklyn, New York.

Published works

{{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Isengart|title=The Art of Gay Cooking: A Culinary Memoir|year=2018|publisher=Outpost 19|isbn=978-1944853495|ref=none}}
{{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Isengart|title=Queering the Kitchen|year=2018|publisher=Outpost 19|isbn=978-1944853501|ref=none}}