Thanks to composers who are masters of the art of arrangement, even centuries-old music can be reborn time and time again. A translation to new voices, a reworking in new sounds. United Strings of Europe, the string orchestra of violinist Julian Azkoul, gets its teeth into this reincarnated repertoire in its album Renewal. As part of our festival RE/BIRTH they also come and perform this music live: Azkoul even took on Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6; the famous conductor Leopold Stokowski did this for Dido’s lamentation from Purcell’s opera. With an evenly-spaced string line-up and soprano Ruby Hughes they create a new listening experience. The ensemble is not focused exclusively on rebirth, however, and also performs relatively recent creations by contemporary composers such as Caroline Shaw and Osvaldo Golijov.