The ESNCM Orchestra

Amidst all the political absurdities and the violence that is encompassing our region, we managed to enjoy a lovely evening last night at the Augusta Victoria Church on the Mt. of Olives, which ironically has been an area of clashes and road blocks by the Israeli occupation forces recently.  Yet all this was behind us, and we forgot all about it at least for a couple of hours, as we watched and listened to  the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music Orchestra  accompany the Singkreis Wohlen Choir from Switzerland in the first, fourth and sixth part of  Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in this beautiful and inspiring church.  And to add to the Palestinian touch of the performance we were privileged to have Mariam Tamari (the daughter of Vladimir Tamari, the renowned Palestinian artist and his Japanes wife Kyoko)  as one of the soloists along with Martin Snell,  and Dieter Wagner, who was also the conductor;  a lively and charming conductor indeed.   

After a lot of clapping and a standing ovation and an encore of the last lively section of the Oratorio, the conductor announced  that this was the last of their three performances.  The other two were at St. Francis Church in Bethlehem and at Birzeit University at the newly inaugurated  Nasib Shaheen theatre.  He also announced that the orchestra will be accompanying the Swiss choir in three different venues in Switzerland after two weeks. I just hope that music  will continue to be an expression of solidarity with our people and it will continue to uplift our spirits and give those young people some hope for the future. 

Update: Here is a video about the event