Concerts

Is there such thing as a «Leitkultur», or guiding culture? A glance to the southeast reveals that intercultural exchange sharpens identities and leads to cultural blossoming. This is exemplified by the rich cultural area stretching from the Mediterranean to the Middle East.

The concert program draws on this, using the example of Jewish and Persian voices. Tehran continues to be home to a large Jewish community, which is reflected in Amen Feizabadi's work. In his new work, the multidisciplinary composer underscores the parallels between Persian, Arabic and Jewish music – utilizing contemporary means. The image of an «untamed river» serves as a source of inspiration, fostering connections between cultural spaces while simultaneously unveiling its own pristine identity. Golfam Khayam also draws inspiration from the rich tapestry of her native Persia's diverse traditions. The artist cultivates her own identity through the synthesis of Persian tradition and contemporary music, which also allows for improvisational freedom, as demonstrated in «Seven Valleys of Love», a piece that is performed in a new version for string orchestra. In contrast, Yair Klartag works with AI-generated voices as well, to hollow out identities and enable their rebirth.

The winner of the 2021 Siemens Sponsorship Award intensifies perception and listens to the inner workings of sounds. Oscar Bianchi's Zamān (Persian for «time») is not a work about exile as a historical event, but about the time when exile returns.

Inspired by the diaries (1943) of his great-aunt Dora Polacco, who fled to Switzerland under precarious conditions during the fascist occupation of Trieste – read in the context of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain and his image of a «fever of matter» – exile appears as an ambivalent force between loss and transformation.