TERRA EST – PROTECTING EARTH – WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Terra Est is a powerful musical warning and at the same time a hopeful vision: a tribute to the beauty of our earth and a call for its preservation. The cantata is dedicated to the love of nature and the spiritual responsibility for our planet.

The texts unite voices from different cultures and world views: Psalms from the Old Testament, words from Hildegard von Bingen and Leonardo da Vinci, wisdom from indigenous shamans from Brazil such as Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and Márcia Wayna Kambeba, as well as impulses from the Greenlandic shaman Angaangaq and the international environmental initiative GreenFaith.

The music combines contemporary choral music with influences from indigenous soundscapes, world music, gospel and bossa nova - a sonic bridge across continents.
For choir, soprano, speaker, flute, guitar, piano, percussion and double bass

Participants
Choir Terra Est
Soprano: Farnoush Gholamzadeh
Speaker: Anselm Richter
Flute: Regina Wendt
Guitar: Thomas Bernsdorff
Piano: Marion Bathe
Percussion: Sven Demandt
Double bass: Dirk Kunz
Conductor: Jean Kleeb

Composer Jean Kleeb
Jean Kleeb is a German-Brazilian composer, cantor, choirmaster and pianist. His artistic vision is to bring musical traditions from different cultures and eras into dialog with each other. In his works, he combines sacred choral music with influences from world music, jazz and classical music as well as sound traditions from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
His compositions - including Missa Brasileira, Terra Est, Canta Brasil, Canta Navidad and the Luther Oratorio - are performed internationally. Concert tours, workshops and jury activities have taken him throughout Europe and to North and South America. He is a jury member of the German Choral Association and conducts the ensembles Vozes do Brasil (Cologne), Joy of Life (Lutheran Parish Church Marburg) and Kammerchor Klangfarben (Giessen), among others.

The cantata Terra Est will soon be published by Helbling Verlag (Innsbruck) and will be presented at chorcom 2026 in Leipzig.