Amazônia

Sebastião Salgado, the photographer behind Amazonia, is also the founder of Instituto Terra, an organization dedicated to reforestation and the protection of the Amazon – you can access the donation page here.

An endless cosmos of colours and sounds, profound darkness and blinding light, an
undomesticated, mysterious landscape, the largest forested area on earth: the wilderness of the Amazon jungle in South America is home to overwhelming beauty and biodiversity. Inspired by the abundance of jungle nature and all its fascinating facets, the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos created a monumental symphonic cantata. From this masterwork by her compatriot, the conductor Simone Menezes has extracted a suite. In the performance by the Gürzenich Orchestra, images by the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado lend it enormous additional intensity. The impressive photographs not only document the fascination of flora and fauna along the Amazon river, but also the dramatic effects of the destruction of biodiversity due to human intervention. The Gürzenich Orchestra is not content with offering unique musical experiences. Beyond those, it sees its responsibility in addressing important social issues, as part of an ongoing artistic dialogue.