One couldn't get into this one the other day for love or money. Annette Morreau's review (click above) really has it in a nutshell.
I did make it, though, to Barenboim's press conference last week -and have to say I've never before been moved to tears in a press conference before. Barenboim seems to have achieved what nobody else anywhere in the Middle East is able to do: bring young people from different sides together to meet one another during a shared endeavour. It's a grass-roots approach, and probably the only way to make any progress.
Five members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra were there with him; one was a young Palestinian violinist from Ramallah whose description of her endeavours to keep her musical training on the rails was deeply touching. After she'd talked about how she'd had a different teacher almost every year - they'd come in from other countries and then leave - Barenboim beamed: "Yet here she is, playing Mahler 1 in London." Two of the others, one Israeli and one Arab, pointed out that they lived just 40 minutes' drive from one another, yet there was no way they would ever have met, but for this orchestra.
The Goethe Institute has quite a good explanatory article about the orchestra's background.
They will play in Ramallah for the first time on 21st August. This is miraculous in itself. Spain - where the orchestra is based - has provided all the orchestra's youngsters with diplomatic passports for the occasion to make it possible. Barenboim's dream is that one day the orchestra will be permitted to play in every country from which its members are drawn...
I've been privileged to meet and write about a lot of fantastic musicians in the last 15 years, but if I had to pick out the greatest one of all, it has to be Barenboim. I don't believe anyone else on earth could have done what he's done for these young musicians.
10 comments:
Thanks Jessica.
What a world. What a story.
thanks for reminding of this concert. i missed it and want to hear it now.
and for the tears as well.
Am listening now... My husband called from work a few minutes ago and I told him "Sorry I'm listening to some important music right now." Dinner and the budget will just have to wait. ... tears here, too.
sorry to say that, there were plenty of empty seats at the concert....
There was a good atmosphere, too. I found the circle in the Albert Hall far too remote; at times you could not hear the orchestra and you could barely see it. The sound quality of the proms is much better on the radio (but I am glad other people go to the live concerts so the rest of us can have them on the radio).
That's amazing, because we spent all day Friday and Saturday repeatedly phoning the box office, only to be told that there weren't any tickets! You're right, Beate, the sound quality at the Royal Albert Hall leaves a lot to be desired. It's best a) on the radio, b) in the arena!
By the way, does this mean you're in London???
I am so inspired by Maestro Barenboim and his work to make music a bridge between people and cultures!
Does he have a foundation to which one could contribute? (If so, I'd like to add it as a "click here to contribute" button on my blog, maybe print it on the back of my business cards.)
Great idea, Andrea. The relevant organisation is the Barenboim-Said Foundation. Unfortunately I can't find a website for it as such, though I've been hunting. There's more information about it at Barenboim's site, specifically here about a symposium it held last year. If you find a specific URL, though, please send it in!
Thanks for the lead, Jessica. I clicked on your hyperlink to the Barenboim website, looked around, then found Links, and hit upon this one at the very bottom of the page:
Music Education in Palestine,
a program of the Barenboim-Said Foundation
www.free-international-music-school.de
(German)
That led me to guess that the orchestra is part of the music education program, sponsored by the Barenboim-Said Foundation. So I tried it and it’s obviously in German, but I do know the word “spenden” which means to spend, also to give, donate or contribute.
So I clicked on it and found this link, which looks promising http://www.free-international-music-school.de/spenden (although when I try to convert it to English using the button they provide, it skips to a different page. Arrrgh.)
Anyway, it clearly says that the foundation is financed by donations, and gives the bank names and information to make a contribution. Now all I have to do is figure out the cut/paste/html/code part!
the Ramallah concert is just now being transmitted on German/French TV (well, it's almost finished, and the widow of Edward Said is talking). They played the same Mozart as in London (this time I could see the soloists) and Beethoven 5. Brilliant stuff, and a standing ovation. I got the impression that the Spanish government had arranged for the orchestra members to have diplomatic passports - otherwise they would never be able to play in each other's country.
sorry...http://www.warnerclassics.de/index.jsp warner classics is publishing the live recording of this concert. Not sure whether only in Germany
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