15th International Music Festival 2018
Music And Migration
8-12 November 2018

The suffering of the Cambodian people including musicians and artists during the Pol Pot regime was unimaginable. Many thousands died while others became refugees. Living in Cambodia gives us a different perspective of the lives of people who become migrants because of similar upheavals.

Migration, from a sociological standpoint, is the “movement from one land,
area or place to another”.  This phenomenon occurs, all over the globe, every year, affecting millions of people.  

The festival program introduces works by immigrant composers from 17th century onwards, individuals, families or in ethnic communities from diverse backgrounds, social milieu and geographical territories.  Migration may take place for economic or social reasons, but is also as a result suffering, and forced escape from political, ethnic and religious persecution. It is hard for us to imagine these traumas.

Most immigrants’ lives are dialectic between the memories of the world left behind and the day-to-day struggles of adapting to a new society. Mastering a new language, living and working among strangers, and coping with the unfamiliar are only some of the challenges faced by immigrants.

Immigrant communities generally find comfort in familiar religious traditions and rituals from the homeland, celebrating special occasions with traditional music, and dance. The acculturation and assimilation of immigrants and their children is of artistic historical significance (Leonard Bernstein/George Gershwin in the US)

The phenomenon Music and Migration is a wide field in social sciences.
The International Music Festival presents an advanced perspective of these composers’ works. Many of these works are result from a blending and enriching of cultures, the old with the new. An invaluable contribution to today's musical world.

I look forward to sharing with you what these composers have to say - through their music.

Anton Isselhardt (Festival Director)