Two absolutely exceptional soloists open this year’s Morgenland Festival Osnabrück.

Iva Bittovà was born as the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Roma of Slovakian-Hungarian origin in the Czech town of Bruntál. She has made a name for herself as an actress, singer and violinist. Using just her voice and her violin she creates an unmistakeable musical world, inspired by the sounds of her forebears and her deep respect for nature.

The second part will feature the Iranian percussionist, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi. The musician, who lives in Berlin, is just as successful at the Sydney Opera House as he is at the Fusion Festival or in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Born in Isfahan in 1979, Mortazavi learned to play the Tombak, the traditional Persian cup-drum, as a child. When aged only ten he won Iran’s national Tombak Competition for the first time, a competition he was to dominate for many years. Mortazavi has long since extended the traditional music and its playing techniques – something which was not welcomed wholeheartedly by Persian music traditionalists. Mortazavi once said that his music seeks to find a “balance between concentration and relaxation”. Every single one of his concerts is a grandiose experience.