We have done it again! After the success of our first program Dream of the Orient, Concerto Köln and Sarband have teamed up again for what is an even more vivid, expressive and mystical encounter between the Western and the Ottoman worlds.
Identifying an almost-forgotten phenomenon of cultural exchange, The Waltz – Ecstasy and Mysticism juxtaposes early German waltzes by Beethoven, Lanner and Johann Strauss I with original Turkish waltz compositions from the same era.
Just as Mozart and his generation were impressed and inspired by Ottoman culture and music, there was also a time when the sultans of the Ottoman world fell in love with Western culture, and especially with its dances – which resulted in Turkish adaptations of the waltz and dervishes dancing to waltzes at the Sultan’s courts
You get it - this program is different from anything you have heard before!
„Concerto Köln and Sarband built a bridge on the stage of the Festspielhaus in Bregenz, a strong bridge between Orient & Occident" Vorarlberg Online (Austria), 18.5.2006
"This is a fascinating recital, in which Concerto Koln's period instruments join with the Turkish ensemble Sarband
and the haunting voice of Mustafa Dogan Dikmen in pursuit of links between the western waltz and Turkish music."
Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times, 19.6.2005
"A Western period instrument group jams with a Turkish band, setting off sparks and shedding delightful light on whole musical ages
and cultures." New York Times, 2003
