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The public cultural radio station WDR 3 and the city of Herne (Germany) invite you to the 49th Early Music Days in Herne, which will take place from 13 to 16 November 2025 with the theme of ‘cultural appropriation’. The festival will highlight power relations, cultural identity and colonial traces in music history.
‘Early music always reflects past power relations. We want to enable boundaries to be crossed and transgressions to be named. By letting the music speak, we create a space for reflection. This should contribute to the current debate on colonialism and cultural appropriation,’ explains festival director Richard Lorber.
Cultural mediation or cliché?
Fascination with exoticism, centuries-old exchanges within European musical worlds, musical memories of the Spanish and English colonial empires: since time immemorial, music has enthusiastically embraced other cultures. What constitutes cultural mediation that promotes understanding, and what constitutes problematic clichés? Four musical theatre productions in Herne address this question.
La Lautten Compagney presents a decolonial interpretation of Pepusch’s opera Polly, in collaboration with Pen Cayetano and members of the Garifuna Collective from Belize. Luca Quintavalle and Nuovo Aspetto explore the concepts of war, power and cultural identity in the conflict between the Ostrogoths and the Roman Empire in Legrenzi’s opera Il Totila. The Dialogos ensemble presents Ovid’s story ‘Ariane’ in the form of an original musical theatre piece with Italian music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The festival will conclude with Antonio Salieri’s opera comica La Grotta di Trofoniomit, performed by the Münchener Hofkapelle under the baton of Rüdiger Lotter.In addition, the renowned ensembles Al Ayre Español, Euskal Barrokensemble, Profetidella Quinta, Gesualdo Six and Anima Shirvani will also be performing.
The programme is rounded off by a concert workshop with students from the Cologne University of Music and Dance on 15 November at 12 noon at the Kulturforum, as well as concerts in the foyer with the ensemble Caterva Musica. The exhibition Nuances of the Ocean by the Herne-born painter Sophia Kühn in the foyer of the cultural centre rounds off the programme. All concerts will be broadcast live on WDR 3, in the WDR 3 app and in the concert player on WDR3.de
Information about the programme and tickets: wdr3 – Tage alter Musik.
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