Ensemble Anima Shirvani & Oltremontano Antwerpen: "I Had a Dream!"

Two artists, two cultures, one idea: love as suffering. I HAD A DREAM! juxtaposes the poet Mehemmed Füzuli and the Renaissance composer John Dowland - and makes their surprising parallels musically tangible.

Mehemmed Füzuli, one of the most important poets of the Orient, died in 1556 at the age of 63. Love as an existential principle is at the center of his work. His main work "Leyli və Mecnun", often read as an oriental counterpart to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", sums up this attitude in a nutshell: love means suffering.

Seven years after his death, the musician and composer John Dowland was born in England, whose life and world view show remarkable parallels. Dowland, who drew deep pain from the disregard of his talent at the English royal court, processed his suffering in his most famous work "Lachrimae, or Seven Teares" and also died at the age of 63.

The concert program I HAD A DREAM! juxtaposes the lives of the two geniuses. On one side is Dowland's "Lachrimae, or Seven Teares", on the other another masterpiece - the symphonic mugam "SHUR" by Fikret Amirov, an outstanding Azerbaijani composer and admirer of Füzuli. With this composition, Amirov makes a return to the roots of oriental art music, the Azerbaijani mugham.

For I HAD A DREAM!, the two ensembles Anima Shirvani and Oltremontano Antwerp come together with 15 musicians. The viola da gamba and trombone consort will be joined by a continuo group and oriental instruments such as duduk, kaval, zurna, oud and tombak. Their intercultural program combines familiar soundscapes with rarely performed repertoire.

I HAD A DREAM! does not see itself as building bridges, but as an expression of historical and cultural interdependence. East and West do not appear as opposites, but as mutually dependent parts of a common cultural heritage. The moderated concert formats make this approach accessible to a wide audience. Füzuli's selected texts deliberately refer to current political contexts.

Program:
Fikret Amirov (1922-1984): "Mugham Shur"
John Dowland (1563-1626): "Lachrimae or Seaven Teares"
Poetry by Mehemmed Füzuli (1494-1556)

Performers:
Ensemble Anima Shirvani:
Irene Klein, Mirjam-Luise Münzel, Silke Strauf
Doris Runge, Arno Jochem - viol consort
Friederike Däublin - violone
Deniz Mahir Kartal - Balaban (Duduk)/Kaval
Pedro Alcacer Doria - theorbo/lute
Peter Kuhnsch - percussion

Ensemble Oltremontano:
Friederike Otto, Nuria Sanroma - cornett
Juan Gonzalez Martinez, Raphaël Robyns, Wim Becu - baroque trombones
Tural Ismayilov - concept/speaker/conductor

Organizer:
Tural Ismayilov & Ensemble Anima Shirvani in cooperation with Kultur Büro Elisabeth

Funding & support
Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and the Committee for Work with the Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan