Amsterdam - Day 5

Reflections…

Today we traveled to The Hague, rehearsing with a new conductor and additional performers for performance(s) on Sunday. We arrived at 10:15 (late due to traffic, which I understand is a common problem here) and rehearsal began a few minutes later. It was interesting and instructive to see another person work on this music - he had a very different style and was concerned with very different things than Peter...that is not meant to be negative, simply an accurate description.

Rehearsal ended and we headed home and I think everyone was glad have a night to see Amsterdam. When you have studied and worked on a piece so intensely over a period of three days, no matter how wonderful it is, you need time away from me, so it doesn’t completely over run your mind. So tonight a few of us ate at an excellent Indian restaurant and then several of us met up and went to see a concert on one of the canals - and I mean that literally!! For this festival they close the entrances to the canal (no tourist boat rides under these bridges) and park barges in the water that become the stage, dance and food areas...I’ve never seen anything quite like it. In fact, this whole trip has been unlike anything I have ever experienced - I have been to many conductors meetings, but all too often they are conventions where many folk feel competitive or want to ensure they are taken seriously, or master classes where the teacher is going to make you a better conductor by destroying your ego by insisting that everything you are doing is wrong, and then building you into the new and improved (in their image) conductor. Here we have come together, as professionals, to work on a piece that has a strong spiritual and social purpose, and we have traveled from several countries throughout the world to teach, question, support and inspire one another. That atmosphere is the result of the hard work, commitment and passion of Peter and the entire staff at oxfam-novib. They are, each and every one of them, wonderful people, who have done all they can to make this a beautiful experience for all of us, and I can only hope that my work here and in the future will match their efforts here.

Then there is this wonderful city. I know from talking to new friends that live here that they have problems and struggles, as all cities and societies have. But I see so many signs of an integrated society, one in which people of various backgrounds (colors, nationalities, religions, political and social beliefs) have so enjoined themselves to one another, that diversity is a completely natural part of their daily lives. America talk a good game about diversity, and certainly it is better than it ever was, but we have a long way to go before we are as successful as Netherlanders. And it is necessity for the future of our world...we are becoming a global village and that will not change. We can fight against, no matter - it will still come. Instead, we should embrace it and strive to make it a beautiful, strengthening thing...and this city and it's people, and this work and it's composer, have shown me how important is that goal.