Merve - Ich war einmal (2023)

MERVE – good friend from Celtic and Old Low German, the glorious one from French, the Turkish version of the name Marwa, which refers to a hill in Mecca, or little girl in East Frisia: their first ensemble is as varied as the name of the ensemble joint concert programme. In it, MERVE deals with stories, fables and legends from literature and music history. From the classic Syrinx from ancient Greece to a modern Little Red Riding Hood, the concert evening includes a variety of stories from various cultures. Stories that are spoken and played on the instruments result in a kind of musical reading that brings with it the known and the familiar, but also the unknown and the new.

The Ensemble MERVE was founded in 2020 by Barbara Neu, Andrea Edlbauer, Stefanie Kropfreiter and Judith Ferstl. The composition of clarinet, saxophone, viola and double bass is expanded through the use of language. The music composed by Judith Ferstl is based on motifs from the literature of classical music, which draw a line through the program. The compositions also come from the improvisational associations with the texts of the stories told.