love songs, baroque Ciacconas, music reminding us of shamans, Celtic chants, improvisations as well as Persian and Indian Sufi music

Bettina Hartl – vocals, bandoneon, piano, Celtic harp

Romy Nagy – vocals, violoncello, tanpura

Andreas Pasemann – chest organ, Celtic harp

Marco Reiß – violin

Dariusz Błaszkiewicz - violin

In Spring 2012, the composer and musician Bettina Hartl founded the ensemble Les Seraphines. Five musicians have crystallised into the ensemble’s core, playing; violin, violoncello, clarinet, bass clarinet, bandoneon, chest organ, piano, Celtic harps, Indian tanpura and chanting. In her line up for 'Zwischen Okzident und Orient' Bettina Hartl’s compositions for the Quintet have been influenced by the early baroque epoch, from Persian and Indian Sufi music plus Celtic elements. The result is a combination of new arrangements of old baroque with their own improvisations.

 
All members of the ensemble have classical roots, which includes playing with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Magdeburg Philharmonic and the Berlin Chamber Orchestra. Alongside their orchestral and chamber music commitments, they also look to mystics of different cultures to inspire their interpretations and improvisations. It’s that curiosity for musical experiments that has defined the approach to this project.

Les Seraphines sing in Persian, Sanskrit, Celtic, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English and in fantasy verse. In fusing western and eastern musical influences, the musicians experiment with their different modes. The musicians take their inspiration from the freedom and lively virtuosity of West European music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries combined with Persian and northern Indian music.

In connecting “Oriental and Occidental” the ensemble sets themselves before a background of conscious communication with one another and a holistic approach to world music.