Hamlet

A 29-year-old female bass player from India. These few words are enough for most people to immediately think of Mohini Dey. Despite her young age, pages could be filled listing all the artists and festivals she has performed with and at since the age of nine. It was her father, also a bass player, who started her on her professional path, a journey which has so far brought her into contact with Steve Vai, Zakir Hussain, Quincy Jones, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Gergő Borlai.

Attendind a performance of Messiah is always a thrilling experience, but it is especially so when Handel’s work – which has become a national classic in England – is performed by a dedicated ensemble like the legendary German flagship of the international early-music scene: the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, now with over 44 years of history behind it. The storied chamber orchestra will perform with one of the world’s finest mixed choirs, the RIAS Kammerchor, which also hails from Berlin and was founded in the years immediately following the Second World War.

An organic juxtaposition of music and literature: the Literarium stage will, this time, feature an encounter between the poetry of Dénes Krusovszky and the unique soundscape of the line-up