JOOLAEE TRIO

GORDON GRDINA

For his first Pierre Boulez Saal appearance as a leader, Canadian guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina has assembled an international group of artists from diverse musical traditions who perform together for the first time. RU’YA (“foresight” or “vision” in Arabic), featuring Belgian-Tunisian vocalist Ghalia Benali, blends sound, poetry, and the human voice in an experimental musical setting that bridges continents, cultures, and genres. Inspired by poems from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Tunisia, Egypt, and Belgium, RU’YA creates a musical world of unity, joy, and shared humanity.

KAMILYA JUBRAN

Born in Palestine and based in Europe since 2002, composer, singer, and musician Kamilya Jubran is among the leading figures of the experimental Arabic music scene. For her Pierre Boulez Saal debut, she per­ forms two contrasting sets: Together with her longtime musical partner, Swiss trumpet player and sound artist Werner Hasler, she presents Extend WA, an exploration of improvised musical dialogue born out of their album WA (“and” in Arabic). For the concert’s second half, the duo is joined by cellist Soizic Lebrat and bassist Charlotte Testu, collaborators from Jubran’s project Terrae Incognitae featuring female musicians from different backgrounds, in the world premiere of a new piece titled Bast (Arabic for “expanding” or “widening”).

KINAN AZMEH CITYBAND

Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh brings his New York–based Kinan Azmeh CityBand back to the Pierre Boulez Saal. Crossing boundaries between styles and genres, between composition and improvisa­ tion, the quartet plays “music that is inspired by a multitude of traditions without being limited by any of them,” as Azmeh describes it. The concert is part of a German tour celebrating the release of the band’s new album Live in Berlin, recorded at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2021.

JORDI SAVALL & WAED BOUHASSOUN

Those who understand themselves and others Will come to realize: Orient and Occident Can no longer be separated. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, West-Eastern Divan And they never could, one might like to add. Jordi Savall is an artist who has long made this case—in his multifaceted work, he has repeatedly drawn connections between the music of the European Middle Ages or Renaissance and diverse Arab, Persian, and Northern African musical traditions, which influenced each other over the course of centuries in transcultural hubs across the Mediterranean. At the Pierre Boulez Saal, he is joined by oud player Waed Bouhassoun, leader of the ensemble Orpheus 21, which was founded by Savall, and members of Hespèrion XXI.

GURDJIEFF ENSEMBLE

In the early 20th century, Armenian philosopher, mystic, and composer George Gurdjieff traveled widely in the Caucasus, Middle East, Northern Africa, and Asia. He later transformed his experiences of the diverse local musical traditions he encountered into numerous compositions, most of which have only been accessible in piano transcriptions. Led by artistic director Levon Eskenian, the Gurdjieff Ensemble performs these works in new arrangements for traditional instruments, while also highlighting the centuries-old tradition of Armenian ashughs (bards) such as Jivani, Baghdasar Dbir, and Sayat-Nova.

BAKR KHLEIFI

Last season, Palestinian oud virtuoso Bakr Khleifi thrilled Pierre Boulez Saal audiences in a duo with kamancheh player Misagh Joolaee. The Berlin­based artist now presents a new solo program of original com­ positions and improvisation that explores connections between the Arabic maqam tradition and musical forms of the European Baroque.

RAMAL ENSEMBLE

The Ramal Ensemble returns to the Pierre Boulez Saal to present a program centered around the idea of real and imaginary journeys. Originally founded in Damascus, the group reassembled in Germany in 2015 and counts several Barenboim-Said Akademie alumni among its members. No strangers to the experience of cultural mobility, the five musicians have cultivated a unique sound and will perform original compositions as well as improvised music. At the Fringe of Time is part of the Ramal Ensemble’s concert series “Creative Music Lab II.” A project of Barzakh gGmbH, supported by the Capital Cultural Fund.

SIMON SHAHEEN QUINTET

Avishai Cohen Trio

It goes without saying that The Concertgebouw and jazz & pop music make a perfect combination. The stages of both the Main Hall and the Recital Hall have borne witness to nearly the whole of jazz history. Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald have both performed here, as have Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. Famous pop stars and bands that have graced the stage of the Main Hall include Frank Zappa, the Doors and the Eagles, to name but a few. Legendary concerts, in the present as well as the past.

Brad Mehldau Trio

Brad Mehldau is without doubt one of the most successful jazz pianists of our time. He has been one of the most regular guests at the Elbphilharmonie since the venue first opened its doors, and was even the first improvisor to give a solo concert here. Since then he has kept causing a stir in Hamburg, be that as a solo artist, in a trio or as part of special projects such as the one with the British tenor Ian Bostridge. This time, Mehldau performs in a traditional piano trio with the young bassist Felix Moseholm from Denmark and the Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy – an old friend who was a member of the fixed trio with which Mehldau played his way into jazz’s top tier. In his always unpredictable concert programmes, Mehldau blends pearls from the Great American Songbook, his own works, interpretations of songs from the worlds of pop and independent and the classical repertoire. The result is always something unique, something entirely his own, and that using every trick in the book. Alongside his old buddy Jorge Rossy, an inventive, finely responsive drummer, he is also joined by the newcomer Felix Moseholm on the bass. He comes from Copenhagen, and a great uncle of his played the jazz bass before him, with legends such as Eric Dolphy. Moseholm performed with Mehldau for the first time in 2020 – when he was just 23 years old.