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Music Touring and Festivals Programme

The Music Touring and Festivals Programme was created to celebrate Central Asian musical traditions in regions where they are little known, and integrate leading exponents of these traditions into the global network of music presenting institutions. The Programme achieved a succes d'estime in its European tours of winter and summer 2002, when AKMICA artists enchanted audiences in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In 2003, AKMICA conceived and co-produced a festival programme “Via Kaboul: Musiques de l'Asie centrale sans frontières” in Paris, France. Twenty musicians and dancers from Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan performed at Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in three theatricalised concerts, with parallel lectures at the Musée Guimet and workshops and master classes at the Maison Populaire de Montreuil. The partnership with Odéon -Théâtre de l'Europe represented a breakthrough in concert presentations of traditional music in that theatre technology - lighting, set design, and overhead projection - became integral elements of the performance, generating widespread media coverage.

In 2004, AKMICA is preparing an expanded touring programme of music from Central Asian. The five-week-long tour includes major performances at the Festival de la Musique Sacrée in Dijon, France, the English National Opera in London, the Ultima Festival in Oslo, and the World Music Expo (WOMEX) in Essen, Germany as well as at venues in Brussels, Turin, and Milan. The tour programme will also feature numerous educational events such as workshops, lecturedemonstrations, and master classes.