Dianto Reed Quintet: Echoes of Our Planet

Echoes of Our Planet

Echoes of Our Planet is a programme in which distant past and present meet. Dianto Reed Quintet takes the audience to worlds and times that are far away from us, with the music of our ancestors and the instruments of Abraham Cupeiro, while maintaining the connection with the present and modern instruments. In doing so, they go much further back than the Reinassance or the Middle Ages; they go back to the origin of our culture, being music a universal element that has played a central role across time, cultures and continents.

Pangea (Greek for ‘the whole Earth’) refers to the presumed original supercontinent of about 300 million years ago. In his composition, Abraham Cupeiro investigates different ‘primitive’ forms of musical expression by using instruments he built himself, such as Karnyx (more than 2 meters long), Shofar and Hulusi, among others. His instrumentation is very extensive and diverse, and reflects the different continents where he found his inspiration. Pangea is an acoustic historical investigation into the musical ecosystem of our distant ancestors.

Fantasia and Jhalla is the new piece by Arjan Linker, specially commissioned for this project. Fantasia is an expressive movement flowing through many Indian ragas, constantly changing the colour of the music. The ornamentation of the music is heavily inspired by a form of Indian semiclassical music: tappa, in which singers make many rapid and colourful graces around the melody. Just like the fugue which restores the order in a J.S. Bach Fantasie und Fuge, stability is found in the Jhalla, which is based on a part of the oldest living form of Indian classical music: dhrupad. In this fast and grooving second movement, all notes find their final places and conclude the adventure together.

Dianto Reed Quintet & Abraham Cupeiro

The Amsterdam-based, multi-award-winning Spanish ensemble Dianto Reed Quintet stands out for the energy its musicians bring to the stage, combining outstanding musical quality with carefully crafted scenography and choreography in each of their projects. They have performed in some of Europe’s most renowned concert halls, including The Concertgebouw, TivoliVredenburg, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and Wigmore Hall. Their distinctive approach to the traditional chamber music concert fosters a deeper connection between the audience, the ensemble, and the music itself. Most recently, the ensemble was awarded the prestigious Kersjes Prize 2024 in the Netherlands.

Dianto explores the theme of ‘origin’ in their programme Echoes of Our Planet. In Echoes, Dianto collaborates with the inventive instrument builder and multi-instrumentalist Abraham Cupeiro. Together, they trace the roots of music and delve into the origins of various instruments. Cupeiro has achieved success in several countries with his unique perspective on the phenomenon of sound, collaborating with prestigious orchestras around the world. He has also recently recorded film soundtracks, including Gladiator 2.