Seven composers and nine musicians from Egypt and Switzerland will meet to try and bridge the gulf that separates their worlds, using music as their medium. Music is a perfect medium where understanding can be fostered, and distrust and fear avoided. Each group will perform pre-prepared compositions and improvised pieces dreamt up on the spur of the moment. The clarinet and string trio will join their voices with the takht, the Eastern orchestra comprising of the rababa (a two-stringed fiddle), the qanun (a zither) and the percussion instruments.
This project will present the audience with a panoramic view of the interaction between the Western classical tradition and the melodies and rhythms of the East. It will be a rainbow illumined and infused with the tones and temper of a pantheon of different cultures, and incorporating them into a new and vivid whole.
Concept and musical direction:
Dr. Esam Al-Mallah