east west pacem Orchestra

EastWest Pacem Orchestra

 “Pacem” – Latin for Peace / Well Being. The EastWest Pacem Orchestra was created by composer and musician Maren Lueg in 2017 as a personal response to the influx of Syrian refugees to Germany a few years earlier. Drawing on her previous refugee integration work with Iraqi and Kurdish refugee musicians in Scotland, she sought to create a project to help contribute to the integration process underway in her hometown of Hagen.

Receiving funding from the regional arts administration of the Landesmusikrat of Nordrhein-Westfalen, she assembled a group of skilled professional musicians from both the Syrian and German communities to begin rehearsals. Everyone learned a lot from each other and expanded their knowledge about the different musical styles. The Syrian musicians also gained insights in to how they could restart their careers within Germany.

With over 20 years of experience playing traditional Middle Eastern instruments and working with many artists from these cultures, both in Europe and the Middle East, Maren was well-positioned to facilitate this project as group leader. It also gave her an opportunity to realize a dream of her own: to compose her own Global Art Music compositions, a fusion of all she had learned from Western and Arabic music. As she says in her own words “My compositions were deeply inspired with the hope that the language of music would help to overcome cultural barriers, heal and bring people together.”

With funding through the “Refugee Citizen” initiative of the NRW KULTUR Arts Council, the orchestra set to work to learn her compositions as well as several classical Arabic pieces.

Soon it was time to share the fruits of their labour with audiences.

At this time the refugee and German communities rarely attended the same public entertainment spaces.  The multicultural composition of the orchestra attracted members from both communities to attend the local events they organised. Syrian refugees began attending local venues, arts centres and concert halls in Germany for the first time, to witness their musicians and culture being so warmly received and appreciated. Any audience inhibitions would soon dissolve with the music being received in a lively, enthusiastic and celebratory way.

Notable performances took place at NRW Landesmusikakademie, Ringlokschuppen and Muschelsalat Festival in Hagen.

In 2018 Maren drew inspiration for the orchestra’s next project, from art collector and founder of the Museum Folkwang in Hagen, the philanthropist Karl Ernst Osthaus. In the late 1800s he had travelled through North Africa and the Ottoman Empire searching for works of art for his Contemporary Fine Art collection. In Damascus he ordered the reception room from a luxurious home in Damascus to be sent back and today it is a rare example of the exquisite art produced at this time. However, it did not up being displayed and was kept in storage until 1997 when the Oriental Department of the Ethnological Museum in Dresden began to restore the elaborately designed room and reinstall its walls and ceiling panelling. Over a century later Germans were rediscovering and appreciating this precious and exquisite jewel from Ottoman Syria. The idea was forged to combine the visual beauty of the Damascus Room with the presentation of the orchestra’s repertoire. Maren assembled artists from both East and West to incorporate visual art, music, song and dance. The premiere took place in august 2019, as part of the 100-year anniversary of the Bauhaus Arts movement at the Hohenhof Museum in Hagen which had been Karl Ernst Osthaus’ family home. It was titled “The Magic of Old Damascus”. Animator and videographer John McGeoch projected animations of the artwork from the Damascus Room over the building’s exterior to dizzying effect. The orchestra’s performance was accompanied by traditional Sufi dance from the Syrian Rosanne Dance Group and the UK based Oriental dancer Serena Ramzy. With this resounding success, the orchestra then moved on to Essen, to present another edition of the project in early 2000. This time the Orchestra was joined by musicians from the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra for the sold-out performance, which took place at the Philharmonie Essen Alfried Krupp Concert Hall.

Reflecting on the project Maren states, “I was inspired by the fascination and appreciation of Ottoman culture by Osthaus and other Western aficionados at that time. Now over hundred years later I wanted to help facilitate a new appreciation of Middle Eastern art. The inclusion of Western string instruments and musicians from the Essen Philharmonic opened up tonal spaces which I hoped would facilitate accessibility to this music for a wider audience.” Judging by the critical response and generous and warm raptures from the audience on the night, it seems the Maren’s and the orchestra’s goals were achieved. 

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