Winds of Change to Perform with
Nederlands Blazers Ensemble in “A Balkan Wedding”,
21 May 2008, in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
On 21 May 2008, the Winds of Change, Musicians without
Borders’ young winds ensemble from Bosnia-Herzegovina,
will perform with the Netherlands Winds Ensemble (NBE)
in a program entitled “Balkan Wedding”, at
20:15 hrs in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The Balkan Wedding
As the NBE says,
“For the most beautiful day of my life, I would
like to have the Concertgebouw as a venue and the NBE
as a wedding band.” Balkan Wedding makes this wish
come true: the NBE and its friends from Romania , Hungary
and the former Yugoslavia will make brides cry, bridegrooms
weep, passion sing out and the Concertgebouw shake on
its foundations. Doesn’t matter if you’re
planning to get married or not: this is something you
will see only once in your life.”
The “Winds of Change’s” appearance in
a “Balkan Wedding” continues a musical relationship
with the NBE that started in 2005.
Musicians without Borders
As war engulfed the former Yugoslavia, many musicians
fled Bosnia-Herzegovina. An ages-old inter-cultural heritage
was nearly destroyed. In 2005, the Sarajevo Music Academy
called on Musicians without Borders to help renew that
heritage by supporting winds music education throughout
the country. Musicians without Borders engaged the interest
of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble in organizing and implementing
a program of master classes, coaching and performances.
MwB’s Sarajevo office and NBE soloists Irma Kort
(oboe) and Willem van Merwijk (saxophone) spearhead the
project, which now includes academies and secondary schools
in five cities.
In July, 2006, the entire NBE traveled to Bosnia to perform
in Sarajevo’s historic and partially restored old
library during the city’s summer festival, Bašcaršijske
Noci. Offerings included a spectacular ‘family concert’
featuring the students who had participated in the master
classes during the previous 2 years
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Winds of Change is Founded
Willem van Merwijk was deeply inspired by his work with
academy and secondary music school students in BiH. During
2007, with the encouragement of Musicians without Borders,
he recruited BiH clarinet professor Adnan Cico and Catalan
trombonist Jaume Gavilan Agulo (first trombone for the
Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra), to join him in developing
a winds ensemble for the young BiH musicians modeled on
the NBE. In May 2007, the “Winds of Change”
debut concert Sarajevo was greeted with standing ovations
and rave reviews. They mounted a four-city tour of Bosnia-Herzegovina
in December 2007.
Dutch Tour
With funding provided through Musicians without Borders,
this journey by the Winds of Change is meant showcase
the successful reenergizing of the cross-cultural synergy
that once was a hallmark of life in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It is also intended to encourage and motivate the young
ensemble members to ever higher levels of performance.
In addition to their appearance at the Concertgebouw,
they will perform a full concert in the Vest Theater in
Alkmaar on 22 May.
With exposure to a world they have never experienced,
Musicians without Borders also expects these young people
will both see themselves more as “world citizens”
and serve to bring some of that world back to a classical
music culture that, since the war, has remained depleted
and quite isolated.
Finally, the trip is aimed at generating support in the
Netherlands – financial and otherwise – for
the Winds of Change and Musicians without Borders. |
