Chennai Pace // GlobalMusicOrchestra

"The Intercontinental - a festival of musical cultures for and with Mike Herting and guests" - Yes, it will be a festival of musical cultures, a festival of musical friendships and surprising encounters when Mike Herting and his guests engage in an intensive exchange on stage and with the audience. As Mike Herting announces, the cultural souvenirs will be a colorful mix: "Musical personalities from the most diverse cultures meet, approach each other, contribute their musical and cultural influences and their personalities and combine everything into something new. All cultures can learn from each other when joy and creativity are transferred. Everything is reciprocal." This is exactly what the concert dramaturgy will sound like tonight. Mike Herting, "très sportif" on the surfboard as well as on the racing bike, opens the concert with the Indian flute virtuoso Shashank Subramanyam in the formation Chennai Pace with Nico Brandenburg on bass and drummer Alex Bernath. In the Global Music Orchestra (GMO), Mike Herting's biographical coordinates swing from Cologne to India and the regions of West Africa and back again. Alongside Shashank, this flow of cultural encounters is enriched by oud maestro Chaouki Smahi, with whom Mike Herting and other guests this evening, guitarist Paul Shigihara and saxophonist Heiner Wiberny, recently gave a concert with Billy Cobham. The Senegalese virtuosos Pape Seck, percussion, and singer Issa Sow as well as Valerie Kohlmetz from the legendary trio Härte 10 are also expected to join them. Further surprise guests are expected.

Mike Herting's global music biography got off the ground many years ago through his friendship and collaboration with Charlie Mariano. Studies and concerts took him to India, composition commissions and various projects, including for the WDR Big Band Cologne, the BUJAZZO and his orchestral project "Sai Symphony", also expanded his sound spectrum. In 2020, he recorded his first piano solo album "Breathing In Breathing Out" (GMO) at Ralf Kemper's Riverside Studio in Cologne, where Mike Herting also organized the concert series "Atelier des Culture". Mike Herting's mission and vision is more relevant than ever: "In times of increasing cultural misunderstandings and armed conflicts, cultural exchange, including through and with music, is of particular importance: people are beginning to understand each other better. All over the world, we are involved with music and it never stops. New styles come and go. A lot is in flux. But we don't have to defend what's behind us; we have to work for the new."