Special Concerts: Extraordinary

The world-famous composer Alessandro Scarlatti was a musical border crosser like almost no other Baroque composer. He left his mark on music around 1700 with furious and fiery arias, but also with fragile melodies and a complex compositional technique with daring harmonies. To mark the 300th anniversary of the composer's death, Paper Kite plays a special selection of Scarlatti's serenatas and combines the Sonata a quattro No. 1, a forerunner of the string quartet, with the Cavatina from Beethoven's String Quartet op. 130.

One was considered a child prodigy and did not even live to see her twenty-fifth birthday. The other lived almost a full century and dedicated her life to the work of her sister who died young. Lili and Nadia Boulanger are two exceptional figures in music history.

The 'Boulangerie' project brings their works and life stories into dialogue with each other, thereby initiating a dialogue between the arts. By bringing together biographical narratives and pieces by the two sisters, the project explores their impact in the present day, traces their significance for our contemporary view of female composers, and discovers in text and sound the discourses, horrors and upheavals of the 20th century.

Not only do the two sisters have their say musically, but so do those around them. In addition to works by Nadia and Lili Boulanger, another focus is on their teachers, such as Ernest Boulanger, but also Gabriel Fauré, Louis Vierne and Maurice Ravel.

The works were selected by Anouchka and Katharina Hack, while the literary passages were written by Tilman Strasser and recited during the concert. As an author and cultural concept developer with a musical education, he has already dealt with the intersections of music and literature in many of his works.

In collaboration with Literaturhaus Bonn e.V.

Former and active musicians from the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said, which consists of equal numbers of Israeli and Arab musicians, will perform chamber music this evening.