“I am from Nowhere” — this title can have many meanings. Atefeh Einali chose it in response to a formative experience. Laws, regulations and restrictions had prevented her from travelling any further at the time. The borders felt like a separation from the rest of the world that she was not allowed to cross. As a composer, Atefeh Einali draws on Persian musical tradition, develops it further and thus finds her own voice. Her music conveys her understanding of the title directly and goes far beyond it.

In the concert programme of the same name, the Bridges Chamber Orchestra explores the different kinds of music the orchestra members grew up with and the styles they work with. Through their own compositions and arrangements, they make audible that music is rarely clear-cut. Each piece makes the ensemble’s unique instrumentation sound in a new way. Sometimes a particular musical tradition can be clearly heard, as in the pieces Samai Bayat, Termeh and Cirilí. Or a melody sounds like folklore but is in fact newly invented, as in Constantinople. Sometimes clear elements from jazz or European classical music emerge and suddenly move in another direction. Other works are difficult to assign to any one style. Or are they?