“On a Thursday in May, 101 musicians gathered on the stage of the Philharmonie in Berlin to rehearse the First Symphony by Johannes Brahms and then perform the work under the direction of Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic’s conductor,” writes George Gelles in an opinion piece in Tuesday’s (6/12) New York Times. Gelles served at the National Endowment for the Arts and at the Ford Foundation, and for fifteen years was executive director of San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. “Those 101 musicians were amateurs all. They came from 30 countries, their ages ranging from 10 to 75. I was the elder bookend, one of six French hornists selected…. The ad hoc ensemble, known, cunningly, as the Be Phil Orchestra, offered a remarkable opportunity—to be a weeklong guest of one of the world’s great ensembles, attending its rehearsals, being coached by its musicians and performing under its music director…. And then there was the performance … the cumulative, collective effort of 101 amateur musicians in thrall to their art…. [The Brahms score] has been performed countless times by master conductors and storied ensembles. I’ve no doubt, however, that our Be Phil performance was the most stirring and impassioned ever played, and I know 100 other musicians who would agree.”
Posted June 14, 2018
