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"Maestro,
I was delighted to meet you in person on Monday evening after the concert when I came to greet you with a colleague of mine and promised to write and share more thoughts on the concert.
First of all, allow me to congratulate you and the orchestra for the beautiful performance you led. Amongst the audience there was a palpable level of focus, a shared joy and something like a common ear for the music you were unfolding. Yes, it is all about unfolding. This is what you did for us all. unfolding the Grosse Fuge was a unique gift to your audience. Unfolding the music in front of us, for our ears yes, but most importantly for our minds and hearts.
This is also the reason why I am writing to you today and why I came to see you in your lodge after the concert. More than anything, I wanted to suggest and if I may, also encourage you, to repeat this engagement with the audience in more instances and in many more concerts. I do see the Charlemagne Orchestra making this a special offering and a distinguishing feature of its value proposition to its own public, to its fans and to its future extended public.
What you, as Orchestra director, did on Monday is extremely valuable and rather unique. You enabled a “live trait d’union” between the music and the audience. Shakespeare did the same with theatre thanks to a different shape in the Globe, which allowed him to bring the scene towards and amidst his audience. What you offered us was a similar but different kind of experience.
In these increasingly dire times of worry and concern for many, it is of essence to offer people an experiential space – a mental and inner space. Indeed a space of Fuge. It is a rarity and a necessity. Surely, coming to a concert is a way to experience and enjoy. But I would argue that in general in a concert we stay more passive towards the music while each of us lives it in his/her own special way. Unfolding the hidden patterns of music is to take the experience a step further. By sharing yours and the Orchestra’s views on the music, by telling your audience the process of the preparatory work in preparing the piece, by making us hear the tunes, breaking down the rhythm and spelling out the way the composer thought and put together the music, while actually playing parts of it…. That is the art of mayeutica. It is about making Music come to life.
Socrates did the same with inner truth as a first step towards knowledge. You as the Maestro took this role towards your public. All of us, more or less experts and connaisseurs of music enjoy hearing and “knowing” music through the ears of a Maestro. More can be done in this direction, I believe. You surely have a passion for the interaction with your public and hopefully this can make progress happen.
Finally, I wanted to share with you my belief that in these times of economic crisis we do need to support music. The work of the Charlemagne Orchestra is of invaluable importance and I hope that there will be more ways through which it can be further supported in a sustainable way. People will increasingly seek to enjoy experience versus consuming goods. Music and the art of great talents like the ones in the Charlemagne Orchestra can offer us all a platform of enrichment, joy and culture.
I wish you a good day. Thanks in advance for your attention. Please allow me once again to share my personal admiration and respect for the work you and Orchestra are doing.
Kind regards"
Elena Bonfiglioli - Microsoft, EMEA director for corporate citizenship and community affairs
"Hebben het concert maandag ten zeerste gewaardeerd! Prachtig initiatief om eerst wat uitleg te geven over bepaalde (moeilijker) werken. Hebben zo Beethoven ten volle genoten. En voor de aanwezige jeugd zeker ook een stimulans. Harpiste was ook heel goed. Kortom, weer een uitstekende avond die niemand zou moeten missen!"
John Wallyn
"Un tout grand merci pour ce magnifique moment de calme et d'harmonie."
Katya Sokolsky - Accor Hospitality, human resources director
"Je tiens à te remercier pour ce concert particulièrement enchanteur. Mon épouse et moi-même avons pris beaucoup de plaisir à écouter tant la magnifique harpiste que la finale de Ludwig Gaga bien expliquée par le passionné et passionnant chef d'orchestre"
Eric Maury - La Poste - De Post - Mail, Logistics Strategy & Technology Group
"Nous avons beaucoup aimé le concert. On y a decouvert de nouvelles pièces, surtout pour la harpe, mais aussi la fugue de Beethoven. En particulier les explications fournies ont été très instructives. Merci beaucoup pour une excellente soirée."
Hans Joachim Holstein