Bağlama virtuoso, composer and singer Erdal Akkaya together with the baroque orchestra caterva musica takes listeners on an exciting musical voyage through centuries of shared history between Orient and Occident.

"It is like embracing the past, the future and eternity on the banks of the river of culture, which has been flowing uninterruptedly for centuries," describes Akkaya. His original compositions, alongside European and Turkish music from the 14th to the 18th centuries, tell stories of love and quarrels, truths and falsehoods, peace and conflict, giving insights into the multifaceted relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the West.

Moorish ornamentation, improvisation patterns and playing techniques impressed European composers and thus found their way into their music. Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail was inspired by Turkish marching bands which sounded very exotic to 18th-century European ears. Jean-Baptiste Lully imitates with exaggeration in his Cérémonie turqueto satirise the ceremony of the Ottoman court, as commissioned by Louis XIV after a Turkish ambassador scandalously commented on the king's pompous appearance.

Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin was an important French flute virtuoso of the late Baroque period. His experiences in Constantinople influenced his Flute Concerto in E minor, which combines French style with arabesques, quarter tones and extreme virtuosity, bringing him great renown in Europe.

A particular highlight is Vivaldi's Violin Concerto: ludicrously virtuosic, spiced up with excessive "Turkish" intervals, this magnificent composition would enrich any courtly ball. Its nickname "Grosso Mogul" refers to Akbar the Great, a Mughal emperor who was a source of both fascination and terror for 16th-century Europeans.