Morgenland Festival Osnabrück: ABDULLAH MINIAWY / GANAVYA

In the organizer's words:

With the opening concert of the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück 2026, St. Mary's Church will once again be transformed into an extraordinary sound space - and a place where two outstanding artistic positions of our time meet. The invited musicians are united by a deeply rooted spirituality, poetic expressiveness and a confident approach to crossing musical boundaries beyond established categories.

The first part of the evening will be performed by Egyptian singer, composer and author Abdullah Miniawy, internationally renowned for his award-winning project Le Cri du Caire. With his extraordinary trio, he moves between the poles of Arabic sound tradition, contemporary improvisation and spiritual poetry. Together with trombonists Filippo Vignato and Andrea Andreoli, Miniawy unfolds a dense, theatrical world of sound: a musical ritual between Sufism and rebellion, between contemplative contemplation and eruptive energy. At the center is his voice - at once fragile and powerful - which draws the audience into an intense, lasting emotional experience.

In the second part of the evening, singer, composer and bandleader Ganavya opens up musical spaces of community, devotion and concentrated silence. Having grown up between New York and Tamil Nadu in South India, her work is equally influenced by the Hindu Harikatha tradition with its meditative chants as it is by spiritual jazz and South Asian ritual music. She combines these influences to create a unique sound language that interweaves personal experience and collective practice. Internationally acclaimed, Ganavya's concerts are often described as silent, highly concentrated rituals - music of great attentiveness, spiritual depth and care. Her performances demand time, openness and attention and in return open up/give moments of rare intensity, intimacy and connection.

7:00 pm

Filippo Vignato - trombone

Andrea Andreoli - trombone

Abdullah Miniawy - vocals

20:30

Ganavya Trio & The Marienkantorei Osnabrück