XXIII International Festival ORIENT et OCCIDENT 12 - 14 October 2018

Festival Program

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The festival Orient et Occident has reached its 23rd year, which will present the 2018 audiences  with joyful recognition as well as interesting novelties. For the first time, the festival programme includes Native American music from the Andes, performed by the groups LosEstAndinos (Estonia) and Chakana (Peru/Chile/Finland) that can be enjoyed at the opening concert. As this music is part of a living heritage that has not had employ music notation, it is not easy to tease apart different periods and layers in it, yet some features of the earlier layers will certainly appear as more distinctive in comparison with the so-called more recent music that features a symbiosis manifested in a style combination of the music of the indigenous peoples of the Andes and Spanish music – a genre that is also known under the name of creole music these days. The second day of the festival is dedicated to Persian, Kurdish, Armenian and Sufi music. It is our pleasure to welcome the celebrated Iranian singer Raheleh Barzegari who will perform together with Gian Trio, a group comprised of legendary masters of Persian and Sufi music. The second half of the concert proudly presents the virtuoso of traditional Armenian wind instruments, Meritorious Artist of Armenia Levon Tevanyan. The third, and the last, day of the festival will introduce two fascinating collectives that mix traditions and history with the contemporary. The duo consisting of the excellent musicians Poul Høxbro (Denmark), performing on the pipes and the bendir, and the soprano Elisabeth Holmertz (Norway) bring to us a programme of Mediaeval and Renaissance music side by side with contemporary tunes inspired by these periods. The same concert presents to us two internationally acclaimed guitar players – Sándor Szabó (Hungary) and Robert Jürjendal (Estonia). Their programme transcends the boundaries between traditions and periods even more, mixing and mingling the traditional and the contemporary, the Eastern and the Western.
As we know from the previous years, the main aim of our concert programme that allows different groups perform together at the same event is the expectation of something novel and unique being born from the meeting of different musicians and ensembles, cultures and traditions. This is not an obligation to the performers, but an opportunity offered by the Festival. We are offering the opportinity to partake in all this to you as well! Welcome, and enjoy the festival experience!

Raho Langsepp

Artistic Director of the Festival