Preview concert
FRIDAY AUGUST 22, 2008
TEATRO VITTORIA - 9 p.m.
Caucasian Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Uwe Berkemer
A permanent, full-time performing group of 17 professional musicians from different countries of Caucaso Region, founded in 2005 by the German conductor, composer and pianist Uwe Berkemer to demonstrate that music is a unifying force across borders and boundaries: a symbol for peace and mutual understanding.
In 2003 the German musician Uwe Berkemer founded, in Tbilisi, the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra featuring musicians from every corner of the Caucasus, the mountainous region that extends for 1200 kilometers from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. In this land, disoriented after the fall of the USSR, many different ethnic groups who speak more than 40 languages live side by side. The musicians in this orchestra come from various republics of the Caucasus region: Russia, Chechnya, Armenia, Azeri, Daghestan, and others. They play together and overcome every difficulty to hold concerts in all of the republics of the Caucasus to demonstrate that peaceful coexistence, in this region martyred by war, is indeed possible Different concert tours have brought the orchestra to important concert places in Europe, like Konzerthaus Berlin (March 2006), Hofburg Wien (September 2006), Dôme des Invalides in Paris (October 2007), Grand Hall of Conservatory in Brussels (October 2007). In June 2007 a documentary movie Grozny Dreaming about the orchestra has been shot by the Swiss film makers Mario Casella and Fulvio Mariani. On the 22nd of August 2008 the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra plays for the first time in Italy in the opening concert of 14th Lessinia Film Festival for the World premiere of the film.
Uwe Berkemer
Uwe Berkemer trained as a pianist. Parallel vocal studies as well as intensive composition and conducting studies soon put him in the exceptional position of being capable of performing as a pianist, vocalist, conductor and composer at the same time. Concerts, CD productions, radio, and television recordings all lead him to the most significant cultural metropolis in Germany, England, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, France, Poland, USA and Canada. Uwe Berkemer has a strong connection to the Caucasian people. Since 2000 he has been married to the Georgian violinist Bela Makharadze. He has been asked for the honour of being the Principal Guest Conductor of the Georgian State Chamber Orchestra. In 2001 he founded the World Chamber Orchestra and in 2003 the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra.
 Concert Program 22_08.pdf |