Music of Displacement

UPDATE

Hezarfen Ensemble informed Ruhrtriennale on Monday, August 13, that they cancel their concert on Wednesday in Maschinenhaus Essen. They released a statement concerning their cancellation on their website . Purchased tickets will be refunded by Ruhrtriennale. Please return your tickets to the ticket agency where they were purchased.

Refugees and displacement are fundamental issues of our time. In Music of Displacement, Hezarfen Ensemble opens a window to reflection on peoples close to the borders of Turkey who have suffered displacement due to war and expulsion from the last century to today. From the mass 1915-1923 Armenian, Greek and Turkish population displacements and exchanges in the wake of the First World War during Turkey’s struggle for independence, from forced expulsions from Bulgaria in the late 80’s and 1990 into Turkey, to the 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey in 2018, the areas surrounding Anatolia have had more than their share of displaced peoples. In this programme, period photo stills accompanied by the powerfully evocative poetry of Yaşar Kemal, Neşe Yaşin, Giorgos Seferis, and refugee authors, are interspersed between a full programme of commissioned instrumental works, by composers associated with each region: Manos Charalabopoulos, Chatschatur Kanajan, Bassem Alkhouri and Yannis Kyriakides. This version of Displacement includes works newly commissioned by Ruhrtriennale by two composers, Berkant Gençkal and Nadim Husni, who, (like some of our musicians) have themselves been displaced. Through poetry, visuals and music, Music of Displacement reflects on the consequences of the nation-building projects that irrevocably shaped the destinies of so many.

Since its inception in 2010, Hezarfen Ensemble has changed the landscape of contemporary music in Turkey. With its infectious energy and signature transcultural projects ranging from opera to Music of Displacement and numerous premieres from within Turkey and beyond, Hezarfen aims to define new possibilities for music in the 21st century.

Michael Ellison / Ulrich Mertin – Hezarfen Ensemble