Music from the Orient

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

Interweaving of traditions

In this concert, a recent ensemble composition by the Chinese composer Huang Ruo will be juxtaposed with works by the Korean composer Unsuk Chin, who lives in Berlin, and a colourful piece for solo harp by her compatriot Isang Yun, who also emigrated to Berlin at the time. In their work, Huang and Chin combine elements from the Eastern and Western traditions. In that sense, they continue along the path taken by Yun, who died in 1995. He was the first great 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 China's harsh Cultural Revolution. As a result, he was not only introduced 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 day inspired her to compose a lively, unadulterated, sometimes spectacularly virtuoso piano concerto, with a beautifully shaded slow movement.