Musikzimmer: Antara

Concert with Antara, Bridges Kammerorchester – The composing orchestra Ensemble, hosted by Martin Kersten

Between breath and string, between tradition and experiment - Antara moves in the space between. European baroque music, dances from Styria and South America as well as traditional Persian music form the basis for diverse soundscapes. The musicians of Antara (Sanskrit: in-between) explore familiar melodies from new perspectives and release unexpected vibrations with their sound: ‘Transonance’ - a new resonance created by their transculturality. Antara’s music is both an echo of the past and a call to the future, inviting us to cross thresholds and create new connections. Antara is an Emsemble of the Bridges Kammerorchester - The Composing Orchestra.

Ensemble Antara 

• Johanna-Leonore Dahlhoff Flute 
• Alireza Meghrazi Kamanche
• Maria Carolina Pardo Reyes Violoncello
• Sarah Luisa Wurmer Zither

Johanna-Leonore Dahlhoff is a flautist. She has been an artistic director of Bridges - Music Connects in Frankfurt since 2016 and, in 2019, she founded the Bridges Kammerorchester together with Anke Karen Meyer. On her concert tours as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician to numerous countries around the world, she is always keen to familiarise herself with the musical traditions of the respective host country. Since 2015, she has also been active as a composer and arranger, including for the Bridges Kammerorchester.

Alireza Meghrazi began playing the violin, learnt the kamanche and studied harmony, composition and solfège. He has appeared on radio and television and has played in renowned Iranian orchestras as part of his orchestral activities. Meghrazi was honoured as best kamanche player at the Tehran Music Festival and as best composer at the Folk Music Festival.

Sarah Luisa Wurmer shapes contemporary zither music with her artistic versatility and interdisciplinary concert formats. On the treble, alto and bass zither and the Mongolian arched board zither yatga, she explores connections between old and new music and develops a contemporary aesthetic for the zither. She is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, supplemented by stays at the Mongolian State Conservatory in Ulaanbaatar and the mdw Vienna. The Fanny Mendelssohn Award winner is supported by scholarships from the Max Weber Programme of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts and the music scholarship of the City of Munich, among others, and released her debut album intimacy in September 2025 on the ES-DUR label.

Maria Carolina Pardo Reyes is a cellist and specialist in historical performance practice. As part of her orchestral work, she has played with the Göttingen Baroque Orchestra, the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, the Aschaffenburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bridges Kammerorchester, among others. She is also a member of the Las Marías duo and the Artaria String Quartet and teaches cello in Germany and Argentina.

Musikzimmer 

With the series "Musikzimmer", KfW Stiftung creates a new stage for music and transcultural encounters. Attending the concerts in the historic ambience of Villa 102 offers the audience not only an insight into the wealth of musical culture, but also the opportunity for personal exchange about the diversity of composition, design and instruments from around the world. Antara is an ensemble of the transcultural music initiative Bridges Kammerorchester- Music Connects. 

Moderated by Martin Kersten. Martin Kersten has been music editor and presenter of the world music programme "Hörbar-Musik grenzenlos" on hr2-kultur and other cultural programmes on Hessischer Rundfunk for many years. In the past, he has presented the live format "Hörbar in Concert" at various venues in Hesse, including several times with the Bridges Kammerorchester.

Bridges Kammerorchester

The Bridges Kammerorchester - The Composing Orchestra is a unique orchestra in Europe, bringing together musicians and their instruments from different regions of the European, Asian and American continents. The musicians of the orchestra are experts in Arabic, Persian and European classical music, jazz, contemporary music, Eastern European folklore and various forms of Central Asian and Latin American music. Based on their individuality, they compose and arrange their own works. The result is transcultural music. 

More information about the Bridges Kammerorchester - The Composing Orchestra you can find here.

Photocredit:

KfW Stiftung / Salar Baygan

Antara Ensemble, Foto: Theresa Rundel