Jumako – Music and Trees

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat… there we hung our harps on the willow trees”

(from Psalm 137)

Trees are the silent witnesses of time. In their annual rings, they store centuries full of eras, storms and secrets. They stand still and yet seem to be alive; they are deeply familiar to us and yet, in their ancient existence, often remain strangely alien to us. This concert is a musical exploration of their essence – beyond botanical objectivity, into the realm of the fantastical, the bizarre, the monumental and the lyrical.

The evening centres on selected compositions by Walther Giger

Arbor – Suite in 13 movements for violin and piano (world premiere)

Each movement is dedicated to a specific tree, guiding the listener through expressive soundscapes: mystical, melancholic, impetuous, playful, untamed. Thus, the unshakeable power of the oak (Quercus) becomes just as audible as the sombre, mysterious aura of the poisonous yew (Taxus) or the mythological radiance of the phoenix tree (Phoenix).

13 Ways of Remembering a Tree song cycle based on haikus by Rolf A. Leemann

Haikus – short poems that freeze the moment in time – form the foundation of this cycle. It is a musical remembrance of what the tree was, what it saw and what remains of it. Each song is a fleeting, poetic spark that celebrates transience whilst simultaneously carrying within it the spark of new life.

A Flight of Sketches 3 Songs based on poems by Shintaro Tanikawa (soprano and piano) World premiere

This concert is complemented by the
Old-Style Suite by Alfred Schnittke (violin and piano)

Aléna Cherny, piano

Claudia Dieterle, soprano

Noriko Kawamura, violin

Tiziana Rosa, piano