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ENSEMBLES 2024

Ensembles 2024
Rezonans, Turkey
Hatan Ensemble, Germany/Mongolia
Nairobi Chamber Chorus, Kenya
Oriental Echo, Germany/Iraq
Vox Werdensis, Germany
Karnataka College of Percussion, India
Daniel Kempin, Germany
Hashira, Serbia

Ensembles 2024

The following ensembles from different religions take part in Musica Sacra International 2024.

 

Rezonans, Turkey • Islam

Founded in 2010 by Burak Onur Erdem, Rezonans has become one of the prominent choirs of Turkey within a few seasons. The Choir consists of approximately 40 singers, aged between 20 and 60 years, who predominantly do not pursue musical professions but have extensive choir experience. Rezonans performs regularly at leading choral festivals in Europe and sings under the baton of world-renowned conductors. They worked with Grammy© award winning composer Eric Whitacre and with Nigel Short, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Volker Hempfling and Georg Grün.

Rezonans was selected as Turkey’s Choir of the Year at the Donizetti Classical Music Awards in 2017 and was awarded the “Internationally Very Good Choir” certificate in the International Choral Competition Marktoberdorf. The choir represented Turkey at the Europa Cantat Festival in 2015 and was the first Turkish choir to take part in the renowned Cork International Fleischmann Competition. In 2018 the choir attended the International May Choir Competition in Varna and won “The Best Young Conductor” prize. The choir performed two concerts conducted by the renowned German conductor Frieder Bernius in 2021, with a unique repertoire of baroque and romantic period music and traditional Turkish music.

Rezonans also performed at various venues during the World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 held in Istanbul and was one of the two main participating choirs for the conducting masterclass led by Ragnar Rasmussen. The choir is known for their attention to musical quality, rehearsal intensity and dedication to uniqueness and diversity in their repertoire, which specialises on contemporary Turkish choral music as well as highly regarded universal pieces from the baroque, romantic and contemporary genres.

 

Hatan Ensemble, Germany/Mongolia • Buddhism

Traditional and contemporary music, dance and overtone singing from Central Asia the all-female music ensemble “Hatan” (“Queen”) presents. It was founded in 2013 by three Mongolian musicians. They were later joined by another Mongolian musician and a dancer. The music ensemble, with its currently five members, combines traditional Central Asian songs from Mongolia, as well as Buryatia and Kazakhstan, with new arrangements and individual improvisations, complemented by their own compositions – sometimes strong and expressive, sometimes soft and gentle, other times contemplative and melancholic or even archaic and meditative.

In this context, their own religion, Buddhism, plays a significant role. It is deeply rooted in Mongolian history and culture, thereby influencing the music as well. In addition to traditional Mongolian instruments, some of which are used in religious rituals, and the customary female singing (Urtiin Duu), one also experiences Mongolian throat singing (Khöömii). In the Buddhist tradition, this singing technique is also employed to recite sacred texts or mantras. The polyphonic singing of the four musicians is particularly impressive. The musical impressions of nomadic life in the vast Central Asian steppe are accompanied by traditional Mongolian expressive dance.

In 2019 the female ensemble won second place at the Sharq Taronalari in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), one of the major international music festivals in Central Asia. In the same year, the musicians were honoured for this success by the Mongolian embassy. The ensemble has already performed across Germany as well as in several other European countries. It also took part in various festivals such as the “Muziekpublique” in Belgium or the “World Sufi Spirit” in India.

 

Nairobi Chamber Chorus, Kenya • Christianity

Kennedy Wakia founded the Nairobi Chamber Chorus as a choral singing ensemble in October 2005.  The Nairobi Chamber Chorus (NCC) exists to provide a high-quality musical platform for young Kenyans seeking to advance their careers or enhance their knowledge and interest in the arts. Since its inception, over 70 young people have participated and many are now leading musicians in Kenya, performing and teaching music across the country and beyond. Members are drawn from the various universities and institutions around Nairobi.

It is a purely voluntary group and members volunteer their time and resources to meet and make music. The choir also provides a platform for cultural exchange, allowing visiting musicians to interact with rising Kenyan musicians.  NCC has also participated in a number of musical tours and overseas initiatives, the most notable of which was a performance at Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom in May 2012.

Despite the Covid 19 pandemic hitting the choral community hard, the choir kept up with the times, even making virtual recordings to keep the music and spirits alive during that hectic time. Their vision is a strong, well-trained musical community which can use its music to promote peace and cross-cultural understanding through quality performance of choral music. Music for NCC is more than simply a platform; it is a healing space for people from all walks of life.

 

Oriental Echo, Germany/Iraq • Christianity

The singer and composer Rita William was born in Baghdad and has been engaging in Oriental-Christian and classical Iraqi singing since her childhood. In 2005 she composed and published her first official CD, the album “Shoq Qalbi” (“The longing of my heart”). Rita William interprets both ancient Coptic, Syriac, Chaldean, and Assyrian hymns in various languages such as Arabic and Aramaic, as well as traditional and oriental jazz and modern folklore. Many of her projects are dedicated to interreligious dialogue.

Rageed William is an Iraqi musician, composer, arranger and sound engineer, who plays the piano as well as the ney and duduk (two of the oldest music instruments). He is a member of the Cairo Steps Team (winner of the German Jazz Prize 2018) and many other bands and projects. Rageed performed with various orchestras in Germany and the Middle East, such as with the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Cairo Opera.

Rimonda Naanaa grew up in a musical family and started to learn the instrument qanun when she was 10 years old. At the age of 16 she was invited to represent her home country Syria at three concerts in France, which were organised by the French foundation “ECUM” as part of a cultural exchange between Mediterranean countries. In 2008 she was awarded first place at a qanun competition by the Ministry of Culture in Syria. After graduating she taught qanun at the Higher Institute for Music. In 2015 Naanaa left Syria, after having earned a great reputation as a music teacher and recognition as a professional qanun player. All three have previously performed in different countries in and outside of Europe.

 

Vox Werdensis, Germany • Christianity

The ensemble “VOX WERDENSIS” was founded in 2009 and has developed into an internationally renowned interpreter of Gregorian chant and medieval music under the leadership of its founder Stefan Klöckner. The group consists of seven to nine professional and semi-professional singers and is permanently accompanied by instrumentalist Dominik Schneider (medieval flutes and gittern), who is also composing all instrumental arrangements. In the summers of 2011 and 2014 the ensemble was invited by the Hungarian Gregorian Society to perform at the International Gregorian Festival in Vác (Hungary).

In 2012 the ensemble went on concert tours in Berlin, Stralsund and South Germany. In 2014 VOX WERDENSIS was guest at the International Organ Week Nürnberg (ION), at the Nederlands Gregoriaans Festival in Ravenstein (Netherlands) and at the renowned festivals in Knechtsteden, Schwäbisch Gmünd und Herne (each with live recordings by broadcaster stations Deutschlandfunk and WDR). As part of Cologne’s festival for old music VOX WERDENSIS performed the medieval “Officium Iusorum”, a mass parody from “Carmina Burana”, at the Schnütgen-Museum (live recording by WDR). In 2018 the programme “Shalom – Pax – Salam” followed, chants of peace by the three Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam (performed at the 101.

German Catholic Day in Münster). In the autumn of 2014 the ensemble recorded the liturgy of the hours in honour of the holy Ludger on CD; the production was followed by a concert at the Münster Cathedral, at which the liturgy of the hours was performed “live” again for the first time in centuries. At Musica Sacra International, the ensemble presents, with parts from its program "Peregrinatio vitae," pilgrim chants from various repertoires of medieval music: Gregorian chant, medieval polyphony, and sections from the "Codex Calixtinus" preserved at the ultimate pilgrimage destination of the Middle Ages: Santiago de Compostela.

 

Karnataka College of Percussion, India • Hinduism

For more than 50 years now, the Karnataka College of Percussion has been ranking amongst the most established ensembles of the so-called Carnatic music, the typical music of southern India. It was founded by the deceased (2019) mridangam virtuoso T.A.S. Mani and his wife, the singer R.A. Ramamani. R.A. Ramamani was the first woman ever to receive one of the most important government awards for her pioneer work in Indian music.

Vidwan T.A.S. Mani is father to an entire generation of internationally renowned percussionists. Amongst his students are musicians such as Trilok Gurtu and Ramesh Shotam. At the festival Musica Sacra International singer R.A. Ramamani will be joined by their son Karthik Mani on the ghatam (clay pot), who regularly performs alongside the major stars of Indian music.

Also on stage will be Magnus Dauner, originally from the Allgäu, who has been a student of T.A.S Mani and R.A. Ramamani at the Karnataka College of Percussion since 2015 and who takes annual study trips to Bangalore. The ensemble gained special attention in the mid-80s, when it performed a variety of highly regarded concerts together with Charlie Mariano. This was followed by several collaborations with the WDR Big Band and groups and musicians such as Embryo, Dissidenten, Paquito D’Rivera, Okay Temiz or Steve Coleman.

 

Daniel Kempin, Germany • Judaism

Daniel Kempin, born in Wiesbaden, is an all-round personality with an impressive cultural and musical history. His parents, themselves influenced by church music, laid the foundation for his deep passion for music and interreligious dialogue. As a young man, Daniel Kempin reversed the decision of his grandmother and mother, who had been baptized during the time of Nazi persecution, and chose to live as a Jew. He studied music in Darmstadt, completed several semesters of Judaic studies in Frankfurt am Main, and spent a year at a Yeshiva (Talmudic school) in Jerusalem.

Intensive Yiddish language courses, among others in the United Kingdom and Israel, followed. Since 1983, Kempin has been touring Europe, Russia, Israel, and the USA with concerts and workshops featuring Jewish songs. His songbook "schiru! – Sing" and five CD releases with Yiddish and Hebrew songs have received multiple awards. He has also participated in numerous radio and television programs. Chazan Daniel Kempin has been the cantor at the "Egalitarian Minyan in the Frankfurt Jewish Community" since its establishment.

After studying as a cantor with ALEPH/Jewish Renewal in the USA, he was ordained as a cantor in Boulder, Colorado, in early 2015. Interreligious dialogue has been a strong concern for him for over three decades. For 25 years, he was a board member of the Working Group of Jews and Christians at the German Protestant Kirchentag and is a member of the Council of Religions in Frankfurt. Additionally, he is a co-founder and co-director of the Interreligious Choir Frankfurt (IRCF).

 

Hashira, Serbia • Judaism

The Novi Sad Jewish Community Choir “Hashira” (the Hebrew word “hashira” means “the song”) was founded in 1993 and since then it has been dedicated to cherishing the Jewish synagogal and folklore music heritage. However, the choir performs almost every kind of choral music, singing in several languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Serbian, Spanish...).

It has won numerous awards at local and international festivals (Slovakia Cantat 2009, Prague 2010, Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2012, at the Canto sul Garda in Italy 2013, at the 13th International Choir Competition ‘Antonio Vivaldi in Greece 2015, at the 10th International Johannes Brahms Choir Festival and Competition in Germany 2017).

The main quality of this ensemble is the variety of its members with different national and religious backgrounds. In 2016 the Choir of the Jewish Community of Novi Sad, in competition with 22 individuals and institutions was awarded the Medal for Cultural Preservation of the Cultural Institute of Vojvodina.

 

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