MELTING POT

This special concert features Bernhard Gander's "Melting Pot," a piece that transcends the purely classical genre, blending a large orchestra with urban elements. The score offers musical windows for beatboxing, DJing, poetry slam, rap, visuals, and urban dance, creating entirely new sonic textures while allowing each genre to remain true to its own identity. Gander thus translates the concept of a "social melting pot" into music. Just as social scientists speak of the merging of diverse social, ethnic, and cultural elements to form a new, distinct culture, musical elements here blend into a new musical form. Gander received the City of Vienna's biennial Ernst Krenek Prize for Composition for "Melting Pot."

Because the solo parts within these musical windows can be interpreted very freely, each performance will be a unique version. In this performance with the Gürzenich Orchestra, all the soloists have a special connection to Cologne, resulting in a distinctly Cologne-based version that will address current issues through its spoken word performances. The soloists Retrogott (rap), MC Rene (rap), Hulkhodn (DJ), Florian Cieslik (poetry slam/spoken word), Ruben Michalik (beatbox), Wole Crüsemann (beatbox), Kollektiv nutrospektif (urban dance), and Latete (visuals) are all collaborating with the Gürzenich Orchestra for the first time.