49th Tage Alter Musik in Herne
From 13 November to 16 November Germany / Herne
“Cultural Appropriation” from Antiquity to the Viennese Classical Era in 9 concerts from Nov. 13 - 16
Porgamme introduction and concert overview
Porgamme introduction and concert overview
"Alla turca,” “Barbaric Beauty,” “Indian Queen” – for Mozart, Telemann, or Purcell, the foreign was always a source of inspiration. All of Europe once danced to musical forms such as the Sarabande, Siciliana, or Allemande, their origins carried already in their names. Yet was this internationalism always authentic – and did music legitimately represent the distant worlds it evoked? These are the questions raised by the 49th edition of the Tage Alter Musik in Herne, taking place from November 13 to 16, 2025, under the theme “Cultural Appropriation.” Leading national and international ensembles as well as distinguished soloists of the early music scene will gather for a festival weekend rich in discoveries and artistic reflections, presenting nine concerts that give the concept of “historical performance practice” (Originalklang) a new dimension. The festival is presented by Kulturradio WDR 3 and the City of Herne. Ticket sales open on September 15.
Cultural Exchange or Stereotype?
A fascination with the exotic, centuries of international exchange within Europe’s musical world, and the “souvenirs” of Spanish and English colonial empires – music has long embraced and absorbed other cultures. But where is the line between genuine cultural exchange and problematic cliché? Four music theatre productions from the Middle Ages to the Viennese Classical era offer answers in Herne. The Lautten Compagney presents a decolonial reading of Pepusch’s opera Polly, the continuation of the Beggar’s Opera, featuring the participation of Pen Cayetano and members of the Garifuna Collective from Belize. Luca Quintavalle and Nuovo Aspetto bring to life Legrenzi’s Il Totila, a work on war, power, and cultural identity set against the conflict between the Ostrogoths and the Roman Empire. Antiquity, too, offered fertile ground for imaginative borrowings: the Ensemble Dialogos stages Ovid’s “Ariadne” tale, weaving it into Italian musical reimaginings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to create a strikingly original music theatre. The festival closes in splendor with Antonio Salieri’s comic opera La Grotta di Trofonio, performed by the Münchener Hofkapelle under Rüdiger Lotter.
A fascination with the exotic, centuries of international exchange within Europe’s musical world, and the “souvenirs” of Spanish and English colonial empires – music has long embraced and absorbed other cultures. But where is the line between genuine cultural exchange and problematic cliché? Four music theatre productions from the Middle Ages to the Viennese Classical era offer answers in Herne. The Lautten Compagney presents a decolonial reading of Pepusch’s opera Polly, the continuation of the Beggar’s Opera, featuring the participation of Pen Cayetano and members of the Garifuna Collective from Belize. Luca Quintavalle and Nuovo Aspetto bring to life Legrenzi’s Il Totila, a work on war, power, and cultural identity set against the conflict between the Ostrogoths and the Roman Empire. Antiquity, too, offered fertile ground for imaginative borrowings: the Ensemble Dialogos stages Ovid’s “Ariadne” tale, weaving it into Italian musical reimaginings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to create a strikingly original music theatre. The festival closes in splendor with Antonio Salieri’s comic opera La Grotta di Trofonio, performed by the Münchener Hofkapelle under Rüdiger Lotter.
These productions are framed by a kaleidoscopic concert program of musical rarities: Al Ayre Español presents cantatas from the archives of the Jesuit missions; the Euskal Barrokensemble explores the soundscape of the Basque region; the vocal ensemble Gesualdo Six highlights “The English in Europe”; Profeti della Quinta perform Hebrew psalm settings composed in “Western” musical idioms for Jewish liturgy; and Anima Shirvani juxtaposes original Mehterhâne traditions with the fashionable Turkish style that swept through eighteenth-century Vienna.
Border Crossing or Transgression?
Festival director Dr. Richard Lorber remarks: “Early music is always a mirror of past power relations. We want to make border crossings audible and name the transgressions. By letting the music speak, we create space for reflection – a space that can contribute to today’s debates around colonialism and cultural appropriation.”
Festival director Dr. Richard Lorber remarks: “Early music is always a mirror of past power relations. We want to make border crossings audible and name the transgressions. By letting the music speak, we create space for reflection – a space that can contribute to today’s debates around colonialism and cultural appropriation.”
Kulturradio WDR 3 is the program partner of the festival and will broadcast all concerts via FM, DAB+, Internet, and satellite, as well as online through the WDR 3 App and the WDR 3 concert player at WDR3.de. Broadcast dates and further information are available online and through the WDR 3 Service Hotline at +49 (0)221 56789 333.
Program Overview November 13–16, 2025
Program Overview November 13–16, 2025
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 / 8:00 PM / KREUZKIRCHE
Spanish Treasures from Latin America
Sacred vocal music by José de Torres and Sebastián Durón from Central American sources, alongside instrumental works by Francisco José de Castro, Antonio de Santa Cruz, and others.
Belén Vaquero – soprano
Al Ayre Español
Eduardo López Banzo – harpsichord, organ, direction
Spanish Treasures from Latin America
Sacred vocal music by José de Torres and Sebastián Durón from Central American sources, alongside instrumental works by Francisco José de Castro, Antonio de Santa Cruz, and others.
Belén Vaquero – soprano
Al Ayre Español
Eduardo López Banzo – harpsichord, organ, direction
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2025 / 4:00 PM / KREUZKIRCHE
Mare Cantabricum
A musical journey through the Bay of Biscay tracing ancient traditions, myths, and historical events.
Euskal Barrokensemble
Enrike Solinís – guitern, lute, guitar, direction
Mare Cantabricum
A musical journey through the Bay of Biscay tracing ancient traditions, myths, and historical events.
Euskal Barrokensemble
Enrike Solinís – guitern, lute, guitar, direction
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2025 / 8:00 PM / KULTURZENTRUM
Punta versus Polly
Johann Christoph Pepusch / John Gay: Polly. Ballad Opera (London 1729/1777) interwoven with original Punta music from the Caribbean.
Elena Tsantidis – soprano
Georg A. Bochow – countertenor
Mirko Ludwig – tenor
Raphael Riebesell – baritone
Lautten Compagney Berlin
Wolfgang Katschner – direction
Pen Cayetano – composition
Punta versus Polly
Johann Christoph Pepusch / John Gay: Polly. Ballad Opera (London 1729/1777) interwoven with original Punta music from the Caribbean.
Elena Tsantidis – soprano
Georg A. Bochow – countertenor
Mirko Ludwig – tenor
Raphael Riebesell – baritone
Lautten Compagney Berlin
Wolfgang Katschner – direction
Pen Cayetano – composition
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025 / 12:00 PM / KULTURZENTRUM
Daphne & Apollo
A musical reflection on cultural appropriation and self-assertion.
Workshop concert of the City of Herne with music by Jacob van Eyck, George Frideric Handel, Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Francesco Cavalli, and Jonathan Keren.
Ventus Consort
Daphne & Apollo
A musical reflection on cultural appropriation and self-assertion.
Workshop concert of the City of Herne with music by Jacob van Eyck, George Frideric Handel, Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Francesco Cavalli, and Jonathan Keren.
Ventus Consort
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025 / 4:00 PM / KREUZKIRCHE
In the English Style
The Contenance Angloise on the European continent in vocal works by Gilles Binchois, Antoine Brumel, John Dunstaple, Guillaume Dufay, Loyset Compère, John Forest, Walter Frye, Jean Mouton, Adrian Willaert, and William Byrd.
The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park – bass, direction
In the English Style
The Contenance Angloise on the European continent in vocal works by Gilles Binchois, Antoine Brumel, John Dunstaple, Guillaume Dufay, Loyset Compère, John Forest, Walter Frye, Jean Mouton, Adrian Willaert, and William Byrd.
The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park – bass, direction
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025 / 7:00 PM / KULTURZENTRUM
Venetian Goth
Giovanni Legrenzi: Il Totila (Venice 1677)
Lucia Cirillo – mezzo-soprano
Raffaella Milanesi – soprano
Roberta Invernizzi – soprano
Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani – tenor
Valentin Ruckebier – bass
Verena Kronbichler – mezzo-soprano
Chiara Brunello – alto
Charlotte Langner – soprano
Olivier Bergeron – baritone
Luísa Tinoco – soprano
Nuovo Aspetto
Luca Quintavalle – harpsichord, direction
Venetian Goth
Giovanni Legrenzi: Il Totila (Venice 1677)
Lucia Cirillo – mezzo-soprano
Raffaella Milanesi – soprano
Roberta Invernizzi – soprano
Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani – tenor
Valentin Ruckebier – bass
Verena Kronbichler – mezzo-soprano
Chiara Brunello – alto
Charlotte Langner – soprano
Olivier Bergeron – baritone
Luísa Tinoco – soprano
Nuovo Aspetto
Luca Quintavalle – harpsichord, direction
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025 / 11:00 PM / HERZ-JESU-KIRCHE
Between Synagogue and Church
Psalm settings in Hebrew and Latin by Salomone Rossi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Elam Rotem.
Profeti della Quinta
Elam Rotem – bass, direction
Between Synagogue and Church
Psalm settings in Hebrew and Latin by Salomone Rossi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Elam Rotem.
Profeti della Quinta
Elam Rotem – bass, direction
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2025 / 11:00 AM / KULTURZENTRUM
Peaceful Takeover
Reflections between Orient and Occident with music by Dimitrie Cantemir, Johann Joseph Fux, Gazi Giray Han, Francesco Landini, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Michael Praetorius, Johann Rosenmüller, Salomone Rossi, Tylman Susato, and Ali Ufki.
Ensemble Anima Shirvani
Tural Ismayilov – trombone, direction
Peaceful Takeover
Reflections between Orient and Occident with music by Dimitrie Cantemir, Johann Joseph Fux, Gazi Giray Han, Francesco Landini, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Michael Praetorius, Johann Rosenmüller, Salomone Rossi, Tylman Susato, and Ali Ufki.
Ensemble Anima Shirvani
Tural Ismayilov – trombone, direction
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2025 / 4:00 PM / FLOTTMANN-HALLEN
Ariadne Lives
A music-theatrical encounter with Ovid’s ancient Ariadne narratives in Italian adaptations from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Pino de Vittorio – voice
Ensemble Dialogos
Katarina Livljanić – voice, direction
Olivier Lexa – stage director
Ariadne Lives
A music-theatrical encounter with Ovid’s ancient Ariadne narratives in Italian adaptations from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Pino de Vittorio – voice
Ensemble Dialogos
Katarina Livljanić – voice, direction
Olivier Lexa – stage director
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2025 / 7:00 PM / KULTURZENTRUM
Viennese Greeks
Antonio Salieri: La grotta di Trofonio (Vienna 1785)
Nikolay Borchev – baritone
Jonas Müller – baritone
Maria Hegele – mezzo-soprano
Annija Adamson – soprano
Jan Petryka – tenor
Jorge Navarro Colorado – tenor
Hofkapelle München
Rüdiger Lotter – direction
Viennese Greeks
Antonio Salieri: La grotta di Trofonio (Vienna 1785)
Nikolay Borchev – baritone
Jonas Müller – baritone
Maria Hegele – mezzo-soprano
Annija Adamson – soprano
Jan Petryka – tenor
Jorge Navarro Colorado – tenor
Hofkapelle München
Rüdiger Lotter – direction
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