Winter Travel 2020-2022

Three scenic musical-literary performances by the Ensemble Megaphon on the theme of experiencing foreignness

Teaser image Performance Winter Journeys

"I moved in as a stranger, I'm moving out again as a stranger".

With this project we would like - through the power of music - to create encounters and dialogues between German and Turkish culturef and continue them on different artistic levels. By juxtaposing Schubert's Winterreise with songs and texts of German-Turkish migration literature from 1960 to the present, we open up a new approach to these themes for the audience. We combine Schubert's melodies with Anatolian, Persian and contemporary music. We rediscover the sadness and longing of the "Winterreise" lyrics in the experiences and stories of Turkish migrants in Germany who have lost their former homeland and have not yet found their new one. The accompanying artistic video projections take up the theme of "strong women", partly in an abstract and collage-like inspiring way.

Programme of the concert

Compositions and arrangement of music by F. Schubert and folklore songs from the Turkish and Persian cultural sphere
Texts by Zehra Cirak and Araz Ören
Own compositions and improvisation that set the texts of German-Turkish literature to music.

Contributors
Ensemble Megaphon

Lenka Zupkova - violin, artistic direction
Johannes Keller - Double Bass
Vlady Bystrov - Clarinet
Sophia Körber - vocals
Tatjana Prelevic - Piano
Tayfun Bademsoy - Acting
Tosh Leykum - Video Art
Nastja Schkinder - accordion
Ehsan Ebrahimi - Santur

and guest artist Hogir Göregen - percussion

Press commentary

EXCERPT FROM THE REVIEW HANNOVERSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, JANUARY 2020
"Other types of play - With the project "Winterreisen" (Winter Journeys), the Ensemble Megaphon embarks on a musical-poetic crossing of borders

For the musicians also crossed their own borders: each had to try and prove himself in the style of the others (...) be open to what is foreign and try to integrate into this foreign style without giving up their own artistic personality and musical origins. In doing so, they undertook a kind of self-experiment of musical migration and integration, which is perhaps the most exciting aspect of this interesting project worth listening to."
Michael Meyer-Frerichs

EXCERPT FROM THE REVIEW NORDSEE-ZEITUNG, JANUARY 2020
"Arabic oud meets clarinet and violin - The Ensemble Megaphon combines songs by Franz Schubert with oriental sounds in St Paul's Church

Through the clash of musical traditions, the Ensemble Megaphon symbolises this drama in an impressive way. Arabic oud and Turkish drums meet clarinet and violin and ultimately combine to create a rousing new music that becomes a symbol of a new unity and whose fascination no one in St Paul's Church can escape."
Otto Oberstech