Ciconia Consort: The Era of the Crystal Palace

Ciconia Consort

The Era of the Crystal Palace expresses the Belle Epoque, the intriguing time of the major World Expo’s, with the rising of the Paris Tour Eifel, London’s Crystal Palace and the unbridled belief in progress. The 1889 Paris Exhibition in particular had a major influence on Western music, where Debussy, among others, was inspired by Javanese dance and gamelan music. The Dutch-Indies Constant van de Wall composed this Eastern gamelan music in a wonderful way for string instruments.

Antheil, Van de Wall and Ravel

George Antheil, the composer of new techniques, who shocked with the use of sirens and airplane propellers, wrote his swinging Serenade for String Orchestra in a romantic modern style with influences from Prokofiev and jazz. The beautiful harpsolo in Conte fantastique by André Caplet, a student of Claude Debussy, will be performed by Alexandra Bidi, a prize winner of the International ARD Musikwettbewerb 2023. And the concert concludes with the amazing orchestration of Ravel’s String Quartet by Rudolph Barshai.