Booklet: طرب / Tarab

With a voice that carries both the depth of the East and the refinement of the West, Dutch–Syrian soprano Mireille Bittar emerges as a singular artistic force on the international stage.

As founder and artistic director of the Mozaiek Ensemble, she is dedicated to creating meaningful dialogue between Western classical traditions and the rich musical heritage of the Middle East. Celebrated for her warm timbre and deeply expressive artistry, Bittar brings emotional depth and stylistic versatility to a wide-ranging repertoire.

She holds a Master’s degree in Music from the Conservatory of Amsterdam and a Bachelor’s degree from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, and is currently pursuing her PhD at Ain Shams University in Cairo, focusing on the intersection of Arabic and Western vocal traditions.

Her international career has led her to perform with distinguished institutions such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Ruman Gamba, the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, and the Residentie Orkest. On the operatic stage, her roles span both classical and contemporary works, from Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to modern productions such as Anne & Zef, as well as Arabic opera including Antar & Abla.

As a concert soloist, Bittar has performed major works by Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Fauré, Jenkins, and Vivaldi, captivating audiences with her stylistic sensitivity and radiant presence.

Extending her artistic expression beyond the classical stage, she released her debut single Helwa El Hayat in 2024, followed by Ya Nasini and Mayyel in 2025, and Alouli Faq in 2026—projects that reflect her commitment to cultural fusion and contemporary storytelling.

Bittar is also an ambassador and featured artist of Sing for Freedom, a Netherlands-based organization that fosters cultural connection through music.

Alongside her performing career, she is a passionate educator, teaching Arabic classical singing at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, ArtEZ Conservatory of Enschede, and the Conservatory of Maastricht, where she inspires a new generation of singers to explore vocal traditions across cultures.

Rita El Achkar, born and raised in Egypt, began her musical journey at the age of 12, when she started taking singing lessons with the Egyptian soprano Neveen Allouba.

In 2013, she enrolled at the American University in Cairo, where she studied opera singing and economics. She continued her vocal training with Neveen Allouba and attended several international masterclasses with renowned opera singers and conductors such as Caroline Dumas, Ritva-Liisa Korhonen, Annika Ollinkari, Konrad Jarnot, Jorma Silvasti, Topi Lehtipuu, and Will Humburg.

In 2017, she was awarded the Egyptian–Finnish Bridge Scholarship.

After graduating from the American University in Cairo, where she also received a cultural scholarship for her singing, Rita continued her opera studies in Detmold, completing her Bachelor’s degree in opera singing and her Master’s degree in vocal pedagogy under Finnish soprano Eeva Tenkanen.

Rita made her German debut at the Landestheater Detmold as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), followed by her debut as Mimì (La Bohème) in the annual productions of the Detmold University of Music. Other notable operatic roles include Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) and Berenice (L’occasione fa il ladro), both performed at the Summer Theatre Detmold.

In 2024, Rita made her debut as the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) at the Cairo Opera House.

Renowned professors and coaches such as Ivan Törz, Manuel Lange, Kristian Attila, Fabio Vettraino, and Thomas Mittmann have strongly influenced her artistic development and helped refine her musical interpretation.

Her achievements include the international music competition “Jugend musiziert,” where she won various prizes in each of the six years she participated. She received a cultural scholarship at the American University in Cairo and a Finnish–Egyptian scholarship to attend masterclasses at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

In 2022, she won 3rd prize at the international competition “Concorso Lirico Internazionale ‘Magliano città della musica’” in Lecce, Italy.

In October 2022, Rita performed the world premiere of Widukind in the role of Geva, in collaboration with Birgit Kronshage and Thomas Lotz. In summer 2025, the production was revived as part of a Germany-wide tour.

Waed Bouhassoun is a Syrian singer, oud player, composer and ethnomusicologist whose
international career began in 2006. Born in southern Syria, she has developed a unique musical language rooted in Arab traditions and enriched by diverse cultural influences. Accompanying herself on the oud, she performs her own compositions as well as mystical and secular poetry from classical and contemporary Arabic repertoires.

She has toured extensively across the Arab world,
Europe, the Americas and Asia, and regularly collaborates with Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI.
Named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2018, she received the Middle East and Muslim Worlds
Thesis Prize in 2022.

The ensemble transmusica was founded in Berlin in 2023 by the Moroccan oud player Alaa Zouiten, the Bulgarian saxophonist Vladimir Karparov and the Russian-German artist manager Sofia Surgutschowa. Alaa, Vladimir and Sofia already knew each other well, as they had successfully realised numerous music projects together, such as the Babylon ORCHESTRA, of which Sofia is a co-founder.

The ensemble transmusica brings together a wide variety of cultures and unites them through its music and approach. The group draws on a multifaceted repertoire that ranges from original compositions by the ensemble’s artistic directors and musicians to new arrangements of well-known pieces from the Mediterranean, the Balkans, Africa and India. The ensemble is a master at combining different cultures without mixing them superficially. Through their unique musical journey, the musicians encourage us to celebrate our differences while recognising that we are all part of the same global community and cannot do without each other. ensemble transmusica creates unforgettable evenings with exciting, international soloists whose work is at the centre of each concert, as well as evenings with musical themes that take the audience on long journeys, question approaches and open new doors.

As a city of cultural exchange and the fight for equality, Berlin is the perfect place to bring the concept of transculturality and inclusion to life, embody it and bring it into the world. The ensemble transmusica is committed to making an important contribution to the promotion of diversity and inclusion through its music and artistic work. The ensemble is also committed to teaching music to children and young people by incorporating global music into regular music lessons at Berlin schools. The association transmusikale e.V., whose board includes Alaa and Sofia, is committed to the integration of transcultural musicians, to their networking in Berlin and Germany and creates a platform for exchange on an equal footing with cultural institutions.

Experience the ensemble transmusica and be enchanted by its unique music. Be inspired and encouraged to celebrate our similarities and appreciate our differences!

In 2023, ensemble transmusica made its debut at the Verbier Festival (Valais, Switzerland) with singer and pianist Merve Akyildiz and will perform with Basma Jabr as soloist at the Tonhalle St. Gallen (Switzerland) in the 2023-24 season. The ensemble’s other projects include a specially curated concert series in Berlin and the creation of the Long Night of Music, as well as the project Ukrainian Female Voices at the Grüner Salon of Volksbühne.

Singer, cellist, and songwriter, Nesrine grew up in a family where music played a central role. From the age of six, she gave her first concert, showcasing a prodigious talent and perfect pitch. Classically trained in cello, she studied at prestigious institutions and performed with renowned orchestras such as the East-Western Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and the Valencia Opera Orchestra under the baton of Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta. Her international journey has taken her to France, Spain, Switzerland, New York, and finally Paris, where she now resides. This cultural diversity influences her music, which merges elements of jazz, pop, classical music, and North African traditions.

A true citizen of the world, she blends various languages and sounds in her compositions, alternating between Arabic, French, and English with remarkable ease. After conquering the European music scene with the trio NES and the album Ahlam (2018), praised for its minimalist beauty and Mediterranean influences, Nesrine established herself as a solo artist with two albums, Nesrine (2020) and Kan Ya Makan (2024). The latter, meaning “Once Upon a Time” in Arabic, is a deeply personal project where she explores universal themes such as love, resilience, and human connections.

Her collaborations include renowned artists such as Michael League, Michael Mayo, Michel Portal, IAM, Juliette Saumagne, and the Metropole Orchestra. She also shone in the Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna in a lead role, showcasing her versatility and stage charisma.

Nesrine draws inspiration from diverse literary and musical figures: Khalil Gibran, Serge Gainsbourg, Beethoven, Oum Kalthoum, and Erykah Badu. Her cello, a lifelong companion, takes center stage in her compositions, transforming into a bass, guitar, or orchestral instrument according to her creative whims.

With Kan Ya Makan, Nesrine reaffirms her status as an innovative and timeless artist, a modern-day Scheherazade reinventing musical traditions.

Frank Woeste, born in Hanover in 1976, is a pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. Raised in a musical family, he moved to Paris in 1997 to pursue his studies and developed a personal style that moves between jazz, classical music, and electronic timbres, particularly on the Fender Rhodes.

He has worked with artists such as Ibrahim Maalouf, Youn Sun Nah, and Dave Douglas. His projects have received multiple awards, including distinctions at the Victoires du Jazz.

He has also released numerous albums as a bandleader and is considered one of the most versatile European jazz pianists of his generation.

Sjaron Minailo is an Amsterdam-based opera and music theatre director and artistic director of Studio Minailo, his experimental laboratory. His highly visual, site-specific work responds to social and political developments and includes new creations from compositions never meant for the stage. He is artist-curator at the Dutch National Opera’s Opera Forward Festival and head of Music Theatre at ArtEZ University of the Arts. Credits include Dutch National Opera, La Monnaie, Opera Brno and Opera Poznań, with yearly appearances at O. Festival Rotterdam since 2008. He received the Fast Forward Prize and was shortlisted for the International Opera Awards (Young Directors). 

Shahrzad Rahmani is a freelance stage and costume designer, scenographer, and member of the Berlin-based artist collective „Guerilla Architects“. Her artistic practice focuses on interdisciplinary spaces and installations within theatrical, urban, and performance contexts.
Born in Karlsruhe and raised in Tehran, Shahrzad holds a Master of Arts in Stage Design and Scenography from TU Berlin (Bühnenbild_Szenischer Raum) and a Diploma in Architecture from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). In 2023/24, she was Bertolt Brecht Visiting Professor at the Centre of Competence for Theatre (CCT) at Leipzig University. She collaborates nationally and internationally with directors and choreographers on productions at various theatres and site-specific projects.

Performer, choreographer, author, dramaturge & scholar. Fellow of the centre for Theatre of the Oppressed (Brazil, 2003), founder of Lamusica Independent Theatre group (Egypt, 2000) where she created 50 performances of dance, theatre & music. Founder of The Nation-wide Egyptian Project for Theatre of the Oppressed and its Arab network (Lebanon, Sudan & Morocco), fellow of Academy of the Arts of the World (Cologne, 2015), fellow of International Research Centre for Interweaving Performance Cultures (FU, 2015-2016), Valeska-Gert guest professor for dance sciences (FU, 2018), visiting lecturer at centre for contemporary dance (Köln, 2020/2023/2024), and Mentor/Expert at PAP (Performing Arts Program/LAFT Berlin) and Flausen+bundesnetzwerk program (2018-2024), and former board member at the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute. 

Her latest books are Migrating the Feminine, on sexual violence as a political weapon (2018) and Dance of the Persecuted (2021), a feminist perspective on the history of Baladi dance in Egypt linking coloniality with patriarchy and capitalism (MSB Matthes & Seitz, Berlin). Her acclaimed productions in Germany: Migrating the Feminine, Reinventing Memories, MY DANCE, Re-rooting, WOUND, HEALING and GRIEF. She is also a certified grief coach and a trauma healing practitioner. 

DDennis Depta, born in Cottbus in 1988, is a dramaturg, performer, and musician. Since 2014, he has been part of the Berlin-based (music) theatre group glanz&krawall, with which he has been boldly seeking confrontation with the rest of society—from the high culture of opera to the poetic lostness of a solo entertainer in a village disco. Together with director Marielle Sterra, he brings formats from popular culture such as wrestling, circus, punk concerts, and horse racing into the theatre, while also increasingly taking theatre into urban spaces such as clubs, beach baths, and psychiatric institutions.

Since 2019, Depta and Sterra have initiated the inclusive theatre and music festival series BERLIN is not…, for which music acts and performing arts groups alike adapt operas by Richard Wagner & Co. KG for a broad audience. Since the 2025/2026 season, Depta has been dramaturg at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin. He is also guitarist in the bands SCHROTTI STAR ORCHESTER and KANAL. Depta believes that art comes from wanting, not from ability.

Dr. Mieke Kolk taught at the Department Theater Studies of the University of Amsterdam. She specialised in Woman Studies and Postmodern Theater in theory and practice; she was co-founder of the feminist theatre group Theater Persona in the1980s, and traveled as visiting professor to the UK, USA and Belgium. 

She published extensively on opera and music theatre since the late eighties. Her books developed and described international feminist strategies in the theatre and the short history of women’s theatre in The Netherlands.

Since 2001 she worked on a  a Cultural Exchange program  in the Arts with Dutch and European theatermakers in their colleagues in Egypt and Sudan, till 2019. Academic conferences between East and West were held with and in the Arabic countries between 2004-2009. Those proceedings/books were also publicised by the theatre-journal Documenta, University of Gent. 

Her own international publications are available on the internet with Researchgate.

Joelina Spiess, born and raised in Berlin, completed her directing studies in 2024 at the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam. Under the name of her collective HERMANN, she develops performative formats from psychological-philosophical thought experiments, combining classical theatre forms with settings such as workshops or speed dates. At the centre of her work is a radical, uncompromising honesty and the aim of creating an almost subtext-free theatre.

As part of a masterclass with Johan Simons, she directed Elsie de Brauw, which led to an ongoing collaboration. She has also worked with SIGNA at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg (Das 13. Jahr) as well as at the Vienna Festival (Das letzte Jahr).

Sofia Surgutschowa studied theatre and performance in Paris, Amsterdam and Baltimore and then worked as as a cultural journalist for magazines such as the Münchner Merkur, Weltkunst, Le Point and Spirit Bordeaux. For eight years Sofia has been an artist manager for IMG Artists in Berlin and Paris, representing opera singers, conductors, and instrumentalists. In 2015 she co-founded the Babylon ORCHESTRA in Berlin, an ensemble for contemporary oriental music composed of refugee and European musicians who are committed to cultural exchange between East and West and have become indispensable in the Berlin cultural scene ever since. Since 2020, Sofia Surgutschowa has been working as a freelance creative producer, (production) manager of international cultural projects, in particular for the Verbier Festival and the Zafraan Ensemble. Sofia Surgutschowa is the co-founder of the Biennale in Situ in Lausanne (Switzerland), chairwoman of the board of transmusikale e.V. and of House of Lada. She is part of the editorial committee of the French magazine KOMETA.