You may remember December 21^st, 2012? The day the world was supposed to end. Esoterics and astrologers predicted natural disasters of unknown magnitude and referred to an alleged prophecy from the ancient Mayan calendar. The day passed like all the others before it. For the Maya themselves, this important date marked the end of a 400-year Baktun (a Mayan calendar cycle) and the beginning of a new period.

One of the three Mayan manuscripts preserved worldwide and the only one publicly accessible is the Codex Dresdensis, which is available in the treasury of the Saxon State Library – State & University Library Dresden and which has contributed significantly to the understanding of the Maya calendar.

From the concert hall under the treasury chamber, the Dresden Symphony Orchestra joined Mayan musicians and a Mayan singer in Mexico City live via satellite across the ocean at midnight on December 21^st. Welcoming the 14th Baktun together, the performance was a vestige to an ancient culture and a celebration of the turn of time.

Jens Legler, E-Guitar – Germany
Jesús Lara, Bass Guitar – Mexico
Luis Miguel Costero, Drums – Mexico
José Areán, Conductor – Mexico
Sara Curruchich Cúmez, Maya-Singer from Guatemala
Gonzalo Ceja und Horacio Franco, Maya-Instruments
Tom Roeder, Light Design and Pyrotechnics

A production by the Dresdner Sinfoniker in cooperation with the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden and supported by the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen and the Stadt Dresden – Amt für Kultur und Denkmalschutz. Kindly supported by Lufthansa, Lichtenauer Mineralquellen, Radeberger, Kronsegler and Neumann & Müller Veranstaltungstechnik.

Since their foundation, the Dresdner Sinfoniker have caused a stir with spectacular projects. But on the occasion of their tenth birthday, the orchestra had come up with a truly special event: a remotely conducted orchestra.

Conductor Michael Helmrath, conducted the orchestra live from the banks of the Thames via satellite. Accompanying  him in London, a barrel organ player performed the Star Wars overture. Broadcast on a transparent screen at the Kulturpalast Dresden, together they played alongside Dresdner Sinfoniker. For the Dresden audience Michael Helmrath was the distant conductor, while the Londoners must have thought he and his barrel-organist were street musicians.

After this futuristic entrée, the Estonian conductor Olari Elts took over the direction of the further, no less exciting programme in Dresden:

Torsten Rasch
Excantare Fruges (world premiere)
Enrico Chapela
Noctámbulos for rock trio and orchestra (world premiere)
Erkki-Sven Tüür
Symphony No. 5 for Bigband and Orchestra

Jens Legler  Electric Guitar
Jesús Lara  Bass guitar
Luis Miguel Costero  Drums
Berlin Jazz Orchestra
Dresdner Sinfoniker
Conductors
Olari Elts, live in Dresden
Michael Helmrath, live from London

A scenic concert by Marc Sinan with musicians, artists, ensembles and institutions from the Roma community, Europe and India.

In “I EXIST – to Rajasthan”, a cast of musicians, artists and ensembles from Europe and India team up to tell the story of a trip to the mythical origins of a nation. Ancient tales chronicle the roots of the Roma from Rajasthan. For the avant-garde musician Iva Bittová and the artist duo Damian & Delaine Le Bas, this encounter with the reputed birthplace of the Roma also meant coming face-to-face with a part of their heritage. The journey into the unknown turns into a journey to the roots of their own existence.

Marc Sinan  Composition/Artistic Direction/Guitar
Markus Rindt  Producer
Holger Kuhla  Dramaturgy & Libretto
Damian & Delaine Le Bas  Stage Design
Iva Bittová  Violin, vocals
Raju Bhopa  Voice
Dayam Khan  Harmonium, voice
Papamir  Dholak, voice
Hans-Peter Eckardt & Maria Lankowski  Video
Dresdner Sinfoniker
No Borders Orchestra

A production of the Marc Sinan Company / YMUSIC with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in co-production with HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden under the patronage of the German Commission for UNESCO.

In cooperation with Ethnologisches Museum in den Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, whiteBOX München, No Borders Orchestra, Pécs 2010, RADIALSYSTEM V Berlin, Rajeev Goenka Music Academy Dundlod and Jaipur Virasat Foundation.

Funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Kofinanzierungsfonds der Berliner Senatskanzlei für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten and Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen.

To commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Dresdner Sinfoniker and guitarist Marc Sinan conceived the concert project aghet – ağıt which successfully premiered in RADIALSYSTEM V in Berlin in November 2015, dedicated to Sinan’s grandmother Vahide, a survivor of the genocide. The production was again performed at Festspielhaus Hellerau, in April, 2016 and in cooperation with the No Borders Orchestra the show toured further to Belgrade in Serbia and Yerevan in Armenia in November of the same year.

In Turkish, the term ağıt means mournful song, while aghet is the word used by the Armenians to describe the tragedy that befell them in 1915. The concert attracted considerable international attention with the Turkish ambassador to the EU calling on the EU Commission to halt the project.

During the conflict, leading Armenian intellectuals in the Ottoman Empire were arrested in Istanbul –resulting in deportations of Armenians throughout Anatolia, mass murder and death marches into the Syrian desert, with an estimated 1.5 million people being killed. To this day Turks and Armenians cannot agree on a common narrative that would allow for an unambiguous description of these events. As the most important Turkish ally during the First World War, the German Empire was also embroiled in these criminal acts, yet the German Foreign Ministry ignored all reports about deportations and slaughter.

The Dresdner Sinfoniker attempted to achieve reconciliation with their concerts and were joined by musicians from Turkey, Armenia and Germany, as well as members of the No Borders Orchestra, (which is also a reconciliation project, bringing together musicians from the former Yugoslav states). Two commissioned works by Zeynep Gedizlioğlu (Turkey) and Helmut Oehring (Germany) and the viola-duduk double concerto Surgite Gloriae by Armenian composer Vache Sharafyan formed the core of this extraordinary commemoration project.

The concert saw the creation of a central orchestra featuring 12 musicians from Germany, Turkey, Armenia, Serbia and Bosnia, as well as mediation activities. These included, a youth theatre performance of Franz Werfel’s novel The 40 Days of Musa Dagh, and the photo exhibition The Bare Life by photojournalists Christoph Püschner and Frank Schultze on the highly topical subject of flight and expulsion.