The local musical trio Crossbreed Ensemble recently performed at a concert of contemporary music in Turin, Italy.

Every year the association Rive-Gauche Concerti hosts a concert series of contemporary music at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna.

This year’s 26th edition of Musiche in Mostra was inaugurated by Crossbreed Ensemble featuring pianist Tricia Dawn Williams, Kevin Abela on trumpet and Daniel Cauchi on percussion.

Crossbreed Ensemble is directed by composer Ruben Zahra. Newspaper La Stampa (October 21) wrote about the trio, saying:

“Crossbreed Ensemble reflects today’s multi-lingual ‘soundtrack’ ... clashing the music of Ligeti, Xenakis and Cowell with heavy metal classics by Iron Maiden, film scores and cartoon music from Looney Tunes.”

Although classically trained, Zahra has always been a rock fan. Since he works in classical and folk music as well as film, his listening experience is rather eclectic.

The inspiration behind his idea of pitching classical contemporary repertoire with hard-rock, soundtracks and music from cartoons.

The music programme ‘Diversity’ by Crossbreed Ensemble includes a variety of trios, duos and solo pieces.

The classical-contemporary works are: Rebonds B – a percussion solo by Iannis Xenakis; Musica Ricercata for piano by Hungarian composer György Ligeti; Three Irish Legends for piano by Henry Cowell and Born to Beat Wild by Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic for trumpet and bass drum.

Zahra contributed two compositions Ħarba for trumpet and piano and Fragments for percussion and piano. The trios are his arrangements portraying three genres: Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell is the theme of the film Requiem for a Dream; Merry-Go-Round Broke is the soundtrack of a Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny cartoon; and Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden is a heavy metal classic.