At the opening session, called "Echos of Southasia" the music of six composers -- two Germans, two Indonesians, one from the Philippines and one from Cambodia -- was performed.

Paul Gutama Sujio was the only Indonesian composer to attend the festival. His piece SES-TETTO was performed to great acclaim. He finds it natural to bring different cultures together through music, which he says is a "universal language".

"In that respect, if a European composers an Asian-sounding music, there is mutual enrichment. I thought the Ensemble was very good," he added.

The Ensemble will also be performing pieces by composers from Taiwan and the Philippines during the festival.

Music from the Philippines

"Philippines Today" is the title of the final day's events on Sunday. Klaus Schöpp from the "Modern Art Ensemble" is a co-organiser, as well as a flautist. He explained why he had chosen composers from the Philippines:

"The idea of making a Philippine programme is very old -- we decided to try it out here at the Asia-Pacific Weeks. Then we also decided to have a second concert with music and composers from other countries. Music is a communicative bridge to everybody in the world."

The audience has been very positive. One pianist said that although the music was new to her, she found it very "interesting" and "good".

Another was enthusiastic about the combination of "modern and traditional aspects, local and global aspects" which the pieces succeeded very well in bringing across.