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.
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.
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.
|
|
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.
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.
|
