19 April 2025
Baku, Azerbaijan

The Once and Future (2021) is finally, finally coming to Europe next weekend– a new staging by my friend and colleague Giorgio Biancorosso, an amazing, truly tour-de-force costume by Bruno Birmanis produced by Helena Lumelsky at ARTISAINT Atelier, and of course, the brilliant musical forces of Anandi Bhattacharya, Stanley Dodds, and the Berliner Philharmoniker musicians.

After a truly busy first few weeks of April in Hong Kong, I’m midway to Antwerp, more or less, in the prosperous and energetic capital of Azerbaijan: Baku. My mission is much like that in Kazakhstan a few months prior, just with far more balmy weather- to promote the Academy of Music and recruit the next batch of talented students from the rich musical tradition here. Baku, of course, sits at the confluence of various (Persian, Russian, Ottoman) cultures but is thoroughly modern, and thanks to one of the largest oil reserves in the region, has a rather useful economic base. Indeed, the land on top of which my hotel sits was not so long ago a hub for oil drilling. Now dubbed “White City”, it represents a reawakening for a city and nation positioning for a bright future. Hong Kong could borrow some branding ideas.

After Antwerp, and some days off, I’ll be in Berlin for the German premiere of Russia : Today (2020) at the INTO THE OPEN festival with EXAUDI as well as some further developments for a new and very exciting multidisciplinary project deeply tied to the city. One rarely gets to relive spring twice in one season, but after some incredibly pleasant weeks in Hong Kong and being witness to the sunshine reflecting off the Caspian Sea (which I see for the first time in my life), it’s a privilege to experience a life only a musical career can truly provide.