Zafraan Ensemble - Cabinet of Folksongs

With Cabinet of Folksongs, the Zafraan Ensemble, together with Latvian soprano Katrina Paula Felsberga, marks the 100th birthdays of composer Luciano Berio and singer Cathy Berberian with a programme that explores the tension between folk music and avant-garde, individual expression, cultural appropriation and creative engagement with traditional music.


The starting point is Luciano Berio's Folk Songs from 1964, a cycle of eleven folk songs arranged for soprano and ensemble, which he wrote for his then wife, the singer Cathy Berberian, and which is now considered one of the classics of the post-war avant-garde. This is contrasted by eleven world premieres of short miniatures for soprano and ensemble, commissioned from eleven composers of diverse backgrounds and based on pre-Christian Dainas from Latvia.



The Dainas are considered a central part of Latvia's cultural memory and inspire an artistic exploration on this evening that actively distances itself from nationalistic assimilation and seeks alternative, artistically productive ways of appropriation characterised by dialogue and empathy.


The programme is completed by Louis Andriessen's Letter from Cathy, a setting of a letter written by Cathy Berberian in 1964.




Dainas are short, pre-Christian texts, songs, proverbs and spells collected by Latvian ethnologist Krišjānis Barons at the end of the 19th century. He had an ornate cabinet built to store them – the Cabinet of Folksongs. Today, the collection is considered a central part of Latvia's national cultural memory.

Program

Luciano Berio

Folk Songs (1964) for voice, flute, clarinet, viola, cello, harp and two percussionists


Louis Andriessen

Letter from Cathy (2003, German Premiere) for voice, percussion, harp, piano, violin and double bassÁdám Bajnok, Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, François Sarhan, Ian Anderson, Lisa Streich, Maija Hynninen, Manuela Guerra, Oscar Bianchi, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Yoav Pasovsky and Zeynep Gedizlioğlu


Cabinet of Folksongs (2025, world premiere)

Eleven miniatures for voice, flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, harp, piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass