Music from Eastern spheres

A brilliant orchestral dance between East and West. That is the exciting programme led by former chief conductor Markus Stenz.

Interweaving of traditions

At this concert, a recent ensemble composition by Chinese composer Huang Ruo will be juxtaposed with work by Berlin-based Korean composer Unsuk Chin and a colorful piece for solo harp by her compatriot Isang Yun, who also emigrated to Berlin at the time. In their work, Huang and Chin unite elements of Eastern and Western tradition. In this sense, they continue the path taken by Yun, who died in 1995. He was the first major composer from the East to combine his own background with the achievements of the Western avant-garde.

Huang Ruo and Unsuk Chin

Huang Ruo was born in 1976, the last year of harsh Chinese Cultural Revolution. This allowed him to be introduced not only to Chinese traditional music, but to "everything" from Bach and Stravinsky to jazz, rock and heavy metal. Unsuk Chin has been fascinated by the piano since the age of four. Piano music from Scarlatti to the present inspired her to create a lively, unadulterated piano concerto of her own, sometimes spectacularly virtuosic, with a beautifully shaded slow movement.