The Astra Choir returns, joined by violinist and violist Erkki Veltheim and other guests for HYMNS IN AN OCTAGON – music of centennial composers Morton Feldman and György Kurtág, along with Romanian works and Friedrich Nietzsche's composition HYMN TO LIFE (poem by Lou Andreas-Salomé).

Composed in Bucharest in July this year, the premiered choral work of the concert, Livia Teodorescu-Ciocănea'sLEAVES OF TIME, is a special collaboration between her and Astra's co-director John McCaughey, involving new translations of poems by Romania's 84-year old poet Ana Blandiana, written at three stages of her country’s history.