Mosaic of the Cultures

Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH / RIAS Kammerchor, Berlin, Germany

Justin Doyle, chief conductor at the chamber choir RIAS Kammerchor, is convinced that composition commissions are absolutely vital for fostering European cultural heritage. This conviction is pursued by the choir in the regular commissions it issues. For the 2019/2020 season Estonian composer and lyricist Jüri Reinvere is to be commissioned with a 40-minute work for choir and string orchestra. Reinvere will write a great dramatic choral cantata themed around the eventful tale of Ismael and Isaac. These sons of Abraham are portrayed very differently in the Bible and the Koran thereby contributing to fundamental conflicts between these three Abrahamic world religions since time immemorial. Based on how the composer has described his work, listeners can look forward to a highly expressive piece in several scenes, full of blood and tragedy, that ultimately ends in soft tones of forced calm. In defiance of the tense equanimity, or as the composer calls it “fractious peace”, that stands as a beacon for the unresolved tensions between these three belief systems ultimately so close to one another.

March 20, 2020
Kammermusiksaal, Berlin

March 23, 2020
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Further Information:
www.rias-kammerchor.de