The first meeting between the Debussy String Quartet and Jasser Haj Youssef took place in 2017, during the opening concert of the Festival Cordes en ballade. From the outset, this new collaboration set out to build a musical bridge between East and West. It was Mozart’s Requiem, emblematic of the Western classical repertoire but also of the Debussy String Quartet, that the four musicians chose to perform, before letting Jasser Haj Youssef guide us towards Tunisia, his native country, not without a few detours and stops along the way to his many influences!
'Jasser Haj Youssef's music blends classical, oriental, jazz and Indian influences, notably through his use of the viola d'amore, a forgotten instrument of the European Baroque that he has brought back into fashion.'
France Musique