Festval Grafenegg: Out of Africa

About the Event

For this unique concert at the Grafenegg Music Summer 2009, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria will be joined by women from the chorus sine nomine, excellent jazz soloists, and virtuosic African performers on traditional instruments.

Exoticism is the buzzword when composers borrow musical language from geographically distant cultures. Music from the African continent has influenced occidental music in so many different ways that justice can hardly be done in a single event. Jazz and Rock legends from the USA, a contemporary Swiss composer, musicians from across Africa and Austria and an Estonian conductor are all in the thrall of this huge continent, with a programme that is as colourful as it is diverse; following a medley of music by Abdullah Ibrahim, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and rock icon Jimi Hendrix, the second half of the concert will see the African oratorio "Sundiata Keïta" ("The Lion King") premiered in Austria.

Come to Grafenegg this evening and you will be carried away!