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Bonn, October 2016 – Katia and Marielle Labèque, David Chalmin, Yaman Okur

I absolutely adore Katia and Marielle Labèque and was happy to have them on Sarah´s Music last year. They are incredible musicians and wonderful people so when I saw that they were coming to the Beethovenfest this year, I jumped at the chance to have them on the programme again. This time they brought an unusual combination with them: a rock guitarist, a drummer and 7 breakdancers! I loved it.

Actually, it´s not fair to describe David Chalmin as just a rock guitarist—he composed Star Cross´d Lovers especially for Katia and Marielle. As he says in the interview, it´s very special to be able to write for two musicians he knows so well as he can tailor-make the parts to suit their individual talents. I loved the piece and it was also the first time I had looked closely at the art of breakdancing.

I was simply blown away by Yaman Okur and his team of dancers. Such incredible discipline and strength! It was fascinating to talk to Yaman and hear how he had put this group together and how he taught them the choreography—breakdancing is totally spontaneous and these dancers had to memorise all the moves.

One of them told me afterwards that the only time his body doesn’t hurt is when he is dancing. I was in awe of them all—but still a bit worried during the Horn Challenge! There was a standing ovation from the usually quite conservative Beethovenhalle audience—well deserved in my opinion. This project rocked!