Using and Transcending Belonging Shaped by Cultural Heritage in and Through Music

Musicians’ Strategies in a Transcultural Orchestra

Abstract

In recent years, transcultural orchestras have increasingly emerged in Western Europe, initially in response to the arrival of refugees and later developing into a professional artistic field. Rooted in Western classical orchestral traditions, these ensembles incorporate diverse musical influences and reflect the cultural complexity of post-migrant societies as well as experiences of displacement and marginalisation (Sievers 2024). The negotiation of stylistic parameters in the musical practice in such orchestras can be seen as a reflection of the negotiation of multiple forms of belonging and identity construction among musicians (Präger 2024: 187). This article examines these dynamics through a case study of the Bridges Kammerorchester, a chamber orchestra based in Frankfurt am Main, whose members are socialised in diverse musical traditions. The ensemble emphasises participatory engagement in shaping its repertoire and brings together musicians with and without migration biographies. In the specific practice of composition, performance, and interaction within the ensemble, different layers of relevant belonging and a spectrum of identities – also constructed along ethnically and culturally marked categories – become visible, marked by an intrinsic ambivalence: the artistic premise of representing specific cultural markers in music meets the attempt to dissolve boundaries shaped by cultural heritage into a form of transculturality. Drawing on interviews with musicians from the orchestra and the analysis of three selected works from the ensemble’s repertoire, this paper discusses how the musicians of Bridges deal with their cultural heritage and their biographical and musical backgrounds in this transcultural community, how they position themselves in different affiliations, and how this is reflected in the ensemble’s musical repertoire. The paper argues that the orchestra’s artistic profile, involving a mixture of music traditions, has the potential to transcend existing boundaries between these traditions and the associated expectations, but still needs to draw and produce musical boundaries. The ambivalence of dissolving boundaries and performing ethnically or nationally marked music remains.