This journey from classical music to traditional music showed that these two styles were far from being mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they truly enriched one another. It also demonstrated the fact that, through such a universal language as music, all men are brothers.

It therefore became an invitation to travel entailing openness as well as encounters. Not only encounters between different genres and people, between master and pupil, but also between musicians and the public, since because of the central and circular scene of the Royal Circus, music was in the midst of the public, thus abolishing distance and boundaries.

Sir Yehudi Menuhin opened the evening with a piece by John Sebastian Bach then welcomed Stéphane Grappelli on stage.
Hosts of the evening, they played together for a while before introducing two young Asian girls from the Yehudi Menuhin School, who performed Bartok duos on the violin. They were followed by Dr. L. Subramaniam, the "Indian Paganini" and poet as many have called him, who performed pieces from the classical Indian repertoire. He was joined by Volker Biesenbender, a former student of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, for a dialogue between two violins.
The first half finished on the image of the journey, brought to life by the Gypsy Titi Winterstein Quintet.

The second half of the concert presented a group from the Kiev Conservatoire, with an instrument dear to the Ukrainian tradition: the bandoura. Bandoura and violin here united in a classic work specially composed for this occasion. Then the Trio Avodah improvised on traditional Slav and Mediterranean themes. They were followed on stage by Belgian Jean-Pierre Catoul, who played on an electric violin. Stéphane Grappelli and his musicians brought the evening to a close with the finale, "Lady be good", which gathered together all the violinists.

We hope that the following message came across: bringing cultures together through music, preserving the characteristics of different peoples and styles and being aware that an understanding can be reached in spite of differences.


COMMITTEE OF HONOUR

- H.R.H. PRINCESS IRENE OF GREECE, PRESIDENT OF "WORLD IN HARMONY"
- H.R.H. PRINCE SADRUDDIN AGA KHAN, PRESIDENT OF ALP-ACTION
- JACQUES DELORS, PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
- WILLY CLAES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- JOS CHABERT, MINISTER OF THE REGION OF BRUSSELS-CAPITAL
- JUAN DE DIOS RAMIREZ HEREDIA, GYPSY AND MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
- FEDERICO MAYOR, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO
- MAURICE B�JART, CHOREOGRAPHER
- ALAIN DANIELOU, ETHNO-MUSICOLOGIST
- GUNTER GRASS, WRITER
- MICHEL SERRES, PHILOSOPHER


PROGRAMME

Yehudi Menuhin
Prelude to J.S.Bach's Suite Nr.3 in C Major for solo violin

Stéphane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin
Pick Yourself Up

Yehudi Menuhin School
Bartok Duos

Dr.L.Subramaniam
Canatic Music from India

Titi Winterstein Quintet
Traditional Gypsy Music

Roman Grinkiv
Ukrainian Bandoura

Roman Grinkiv and Volker Biesenbender
Bandoura and Violin

Trio Avodah
Improvisations on Traditional and Classical Music

Jean-Pierre Catoul
Gypsy Tango, Irish Dance

Stéphane Grappelli and His Musicians
Sweet Georgia Brown. Lady Be Good.

Stéphane Grappelli

During his life, Stéphane Grappelli built a marvellous world of swing, rhythm and melody for himself and for those who listened to him. His world is sunny and luminous, a universe where beauty, happiness and the unexpected abound. Grappelli’s world is indeed a reflection of his own reality, a series of musical poems celebrating life, love and beauty. He is forever part of the present.

Natsuko Yoshimoto and Corina Belcea
study at theYehudi Menuhin School in England and are both starting outstanding careers as violinists.
Volker Biesenbender.Volker is a former student of Yehudi Menuhin, who says about him "Volker exists. He is a phenomenon whose source of vitality is precisely the creative power of music, the music of folklore. I adore him".

Jean-Pierre Catoul
Young talented Belgian violinist Jean-Pierre Catoul played with Stéphane Grappelli who inspired him a great deal. He believes that music is a universal source of knowledge that encourages him to explore other regions, always further afield. In "All the World’s Violins" he is accompanied by Guénael Micault.

Roman Grinkiv
Born in the Ukraine, Roman is a musician touched by God. He renewed the Ukrainian Bandoura repertoire and has also contributed to a wider awareness of this ancient Ukrainian instrument abroad. 

Titi Winterstein
Gypsy Titi Winterstein’s disconcerting ease and sensitivity will take your breath away. The violin becomes a means of expression of the soul, an infinitely powerful tool of musical passion.

Subramaniam
Emperor of the violinists, Indian Paganini, this Indian doctor and his magic fingers have given up curing people by any other method but music. His ambition is to bring the world’s musicians closer together.