Sirba Orchestra!

We begin 2024 by heading down the highways and byways of Eastern Europe, with a concert at the crossroads of musical cultures and sounds! Symphonic power and authentic tradition merge in an irresistible mix of popular jubilation, trance and elegy.

Focusing on the traditional repertoire of Eastern Europe, it is under the aegis of classical world music that the Sirba Octet has decided to join forces with the Dijon Bourgogne Orchestra and the balalaika virtuoso Alexeï Birioukov. The result is an explosive encounter of sounds, practices and cultures, carried by an audacious mix of orchestral and traditional instruments. Through the magic of Cyrille Lehn’s arrangements, timeless classics such as Ochi Chornia, Kalinka, Podmoskovnyïé Vetchera are bathed in unexpected colours, literally reinvented for our ears. As for the spirit behind it all, it is clearly that of popular celebration, driven by the energy of Russian, Romanian, Hungarian, Moldavian, Gypsy and Klezmer melodies, always with an indispensable hint of self-deprecation so characteristic of Jewish humour. Dance erupts with fervour and passion, only to give way to poignant melancholy under the plucked strings of the balalaika.  

Musical director Joseph Bastian

Sirba Octet & Dijon Bourgogne Orchestra

Balalaïka Alexeï Birioukov
Violin 1 Richard Schmoucler
Violin 2 Laurent Manaud-Pallas
Viola Grégoire Vecchioni
Cello Claude Giron
Double bass Stanislas Kuchinski
Clarinet Rémi Delangle
Cimbalom Iurie Morar
Piano Christophe Henry

^{Illustration © Lorenzo Mattotti}

Arrangements Cyrille Lehn