Maripepa Contreras is one of the few jazz oboe players in the world. In the performance Sexi Firmum Iulium she dives into the layered history of her birthplace. The title refers to Sexi, the Phoenician trading city on the southern Spanish coast which the Romans named Sexi Firmum Iulium: the current Almuñécar. Nurtured by classical, jazz and Mediterranean sounds, she translates her background to contemporary, future-oriented music that is raw, precise and free at the same time.

The visuals are created by artist Toni Geitani from Lebanon, that is historically connected to Phoenicia, the same civilization that founded Sexi. Together with the Marmoucha Orchestra they will create a live experience fusing audio with visuals, past with present, Almuñécar with Amsterdam. As its artisitic coördinator and arranger, Maripepa Contreras is one of the founding musicians of the Marmoucha Orchestra, the Amsterdam-based ensemble that brings together jazz, global and composed music in organic ways.

Sexi Firmum Iulium is made possible (in part) by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) and FPK (Fonds Podiumkunsten).