Concert: EAST-WEST Quartet

The East-West Quartet will focus on the compositions and interpretations of singer and baglama virtuoso Erdal Akkaya. There will also be traditional Anatolian songs by singer Dr.Ferda Igdebeli Sensoy and instrumental works.

Erdal Akkaya has produced various albums since 1997. He works with the special playing technique "Selpe" (Tapping). He debuted with his first solo concert in Duisburg in 1997. In 2009 he gave a concert in the Hagia Irene church in Istanbul together with the world famous virtuoso Ara Dinkjiyan. For years he accompanied the famous writer, singer, politician and author Zülfü Livaneli on concerts. In 2002 he composed the music of the documentary film "A Pinch of Grass" for public television. This was followed by concerts accompanied by the Stuttgart Youth - Symphony Orchestra, With the famous flamenco - guitarist Jeronimo Maya, the pianist Henning Schmiedt, the Duisburg Philharmonic and the Herne Symphony Orchestz and the Chamber Symphony Berlin.

Dr.Ferda Igdebeli Sensoy,soprano and doctor. Born in Bartin,Turkey,she came to Germany in the first year of her life.She studied singing in Essen with the Kammersängerin Liselotte Enck (Staatsoper Berlin and Dresden) and is a former ensemble member of the Staatstheater Oldenburg. In recent years she has discovered a love of Near Eastern music, especially the music of the so-called traveling bards, the Aşık.

The quartet also includes saxophonist Peter Dahm and bassist Jan Olaf Rodt, with whom Akkaya has already given joint concerts in Istanbul and Germany.

Instrumentation:
Erdal Akkaya: baglama/vocals,
Dr.Ferda Igdebeli Sensoy: vocals
Peter Dahm: saxophone
Jan Olaf Rodt: bass