The programme opened with the first joint concert ever by two of China’s most exceptional musicians, Wu Man and Wu Wei, as well as the Kazakh Ensemble Khazar. Ulzhan Baibussynova and Raushan Orozbaeva presented traditional Kazakh music Both musicians also played in the project “The New Silk Road”, together with the percussionist Bodek Janke, the pianist Salman Gambarov and Wu Wei.

Homayun Sakhi, Sirojiddin Juraev, Mukhtor Muborakqadomov and Salar Nader went in search of the music of the first Mogul, Babur. The Syrian trumpeter Nezar Omran met with his German colleague Ingolf Burkhardt, and DJ Psychaleppo got everyone onto the dance-floor in the Lagerhalle. The Morgenland All Star Band and the Morgenland Campus Ensemble delighted an audience of over 800 in one of Volkswagen’s production halls, spectacularly illuminated by the light artist Philipp Geist. A coproduction with the Elbphilharmonie and the Holland Festival brought together the Syrian Emsemble Hewar and the Armenian Gurdjieff Ensemble: an homage by two special, centuries-old neighbours and a plea for peace in Syria.

The Festival in Osnabrück was preceded by a guest appearance in Almaty, Kazakhstan with concerts in the State Philharmonic Hall and the Museum for Traditional Music Instruments, as well as many jam sessions at various venues all over the city.