Cabinet of Folksongs

In the organizer's words:

"A musical work is never alone - it always has a large family with which it must get along, (...) and it must be able to live in the present in many different ways."
- Luciano Berio

Program

Luciano Berio
Folk Songs (1964) for voice, flute, clarinet, viola, violoncello, harp and two percussionists

Louis Andriessen
Letter from Cathy (2003) for voice, percussion, harp, piano, violin and double bass

Ádám Bajnok, Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, François Sarhan, Ian Anderson, Lisa Streich, Maija Hynninen, Manuela Guerra, Oscar Bianchi, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Yoav Pasovsky and Zeynep Gedizlioğlu
Cabinet of Folksongs (2025, premiere)

Eleven miniatures for voice, flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, harp, piano, violin, viola, violoncello and double bass

Tickets: https://www.eventim.de/event/zafraan-ensemble-philharmonie-berlin-20614559/?affiliate=TUG

With "Cabinet of Folksongs", the Zafraan Ensemble, together with Latvian soprano Katrina Paula Felsberga, takes the 100th birthdays of composer Luciano Berio and singer Cathy Berberian as the occasion for a project between the poles of folk music and avant-garde, individual expressiveness, cultural appropriation and the creative exploration of traditional music. The starting point for this is Luciano Berio's "Folk Songs", premiered in 1964, a cycle of eleven folk songs of various origins arranged for soprano and ensemble, which he wrote for his wife at the time, the singer Cathy Berberian, and which is now one of the classics of the post-war avant-garde. This is juxtaposed with eleven world premieres of short miniatures for soprano and ensemble, composed as commissioned works by eleven composers from a wide variety of backgrounds. The basis of the new compositions are "Dainas", short, pre-Christian texts, songs, spells and spells that the Latvian ethnologist Krišjānis Barons collected at the end of the 19th century and for which he had an elaborately crafted cabinet built - the "Cabinet of Folksongs". Today, the collection is considered a central part of Latvia's national cultural memory. At the same time, however, it forms the basis for an artistic debate that actively distances itself from the nationalist appropriation of cultural heritage and seeks alternative, artistically productive ways of appropriation characterized by dialogue and empathy. The program is complemented by Louis Andriessen's "Letter from Cathy", a setting of a letter written by Cathy Berberian in 1964.

Zafraan Ensemble
Liam Mallett flute
Martin Posegga saxophone
Emmanuelle Bernard Violin
Josa Gerhard Viola
Martin Smith Violoncello
Adam Goodwin double bass
Clemens Hund-Göschel Piano
Anna Viechtl harp
Daniel Eichholz, Minhye Ko percussion
Horia Dumitrache clarinet

Katrīna Paula Felsberga soprano
Miguel Pérez Iñesta Conductor

Emmanuelle Bernard Artistic direction

Sebastian Hanusa Dramaturgical accompaniment
Piotr van Gielle Ruppe Production management
Sofia Surguchova Public Relations and Management
Swami Silva Graphics

With the support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin.

Price information:

Discounts for students/seniors/wheelchair users and school classes of 5 or more people in the Philharmonie