Spellbound, 165 music enthusiasts followed the concert “Go East” presented by clarinettist Blaž Šparovec and the c/o chamber orchestra in the great hall of Draiflessen on 17 July 2022 in glorious summer weather until the very end. With incredible intensity, the musicians played pieces by Eastern European composers, some of them lesser known, such as the Polish Grażyna Bacewicz, but also well-known pieces by Béla Bártok, for example.

The 16 young string musicians of the c/o chamber orchestra, who come from twelve countries and play without a conductor, convinced with their not only very forceful but also highly professional interplay, impressive not only in the enormous sound volume but also in the delicate solos of violins and cellos.

The playing of Blaž Šparovec, a young Slovenian clarinettist who has won many awards, was beguiling. The sound of his clarinet captivated the audience from beginning to end. Sometimes his instrument wrestled tempestuously with the strings, sometimes the performance was melancholic-legendary. But the passion and intensity of Blaž Šparovec’s play were unmistakable right down to the last row. This created a wonderful connection between the musicians and the audience, who were always made to smile by unforeseen leaps of the instruments and the artists’ joie de vivre.

An extraordinary concert, which the audience thanked the artists with standing ovations.

The organizer was the GWK – Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Westfälischen Kulturarbeit e. V. which organized the concert as part of the international woodwind festival Summerwinds Münsterland.