Befreiung zum Frieden
Israel In Egypt - From Slavery to FreedomAn oratorio of three world religions based on “Israel in Egypt” (1738), composed by George Frideric Handel, interwoven with Jewish and Muslim music.
Concept: Werner Ehrhardt, Yair Dalal, and Clemens Birnbaum
Festival Opening Words: Konrad Paul Liessmann
Austrian Premiere
Past event
Description
l’arte del mondo orchestra
Werner Ehrhardt | conductor
Konzertchor Niederösterreich
Tobias Grabher | rehearsal
Al Ol Ensemble
Yair Dalal | oud, violin, vocals
Erez Mounk | percussion
Haim Ankri | vocals
Netanel Zalevsky | vocals
Wahab Badarne | kanun
Hanan Atamni | vocals
Gilard Harel | clarinet
Yotam Haimovitch | sitar
Our opening concert explores fundamental questions of human togetherness. While the story of “Israel in Egypt” is hardly based on historical facts, it raises universal questions: What do freedom and peace mean for the individual? How can we live together while preserving our personal autonomy?
Captivating and stirring but also cheerful and playful, the music combines the diversity of Christian Baroque expression with equally as sophisticated music from Judaism and Islam. But the basic structure of the plot remains intact. The chorus and orchestra perform Handel’s score with pinpoint accuracy. Interwoven in between are sounds from the Middle East, Sufi music, or even a raga. In turn, some of those biblical passages, which may at times seem rather harrowing, are mitigated or commented by the inserted passages. As the concert progresses, the musical worlds become more and more entangled.
The Iraqi-Jewish musician Yair Dalal has been playing with his group “Al Ol” (Desert Wind) for more than 30 years, which consists of musicians from Israel and neighbouring countries, regardless of their origin or religion. Werner Ehrhardt is one of the most renowned musicians of the European original sound movement. He founded the orchestras Concerto Köln in 1985 and l’arte del mondo in 2004, which he has been conducting ever since.