A few weeks after the Russians moved into Ukraine, DR Symphony Orchestra violinist Teresa la Cour was thinking:
-I can either sit back and mourn what has happened. Or I can do something.
She chose the latter, and she had tried it before. With success.
The result was World Peace Philharmonic Orchestra.
The purpose sounds good: to connect people in a world of war and strife.
Some would say it's a hopeless project, but Teresa la Cour has a different experience. She was born in the former GDR and at the age of 14 she joined the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which also consisted of both Arab and Israeli musicians, and which was initiated and conducted by the internationally renowned and Sonning Prize winner Daniel Barenboim, among others. As mentioned, the orchestra consisted of both Israeli and Palestinian musicians, the arch-enemies:
-"At first, the musicians from the two camps couldn't stand the sight of each other, but it only took two weeks before they realised they wanted the same thing and lifelong friendships were quickly formed," Teresa la Cour recalls. Barenboim's initiative went around the world and the orchestra became very prestigious.
That is not the goal of the World Peace Philharmonic Orchestra. -
-"We want to work to ensure that tolerance towards other cultures not only prevails within the orchestra, but also among the audience. In order to appeal to everyone, the idea is that there will be no entrance fee when the audience is invited inside. The plan is to do this at a festival next year, says Teresa la Cour.
Today, in addition to Teresa la Cour, her colleague on the violin, Stanislav Zakrjevski, who has a Russian background, is working on the project. Although they were both born in Russian-dominated areas, it is clearly important that the ensemble is NOT politically inspired - on the contrary.
The two initiators have a large network of musicians spread across the world, and it is important to have a well-known conductor associated with them. It was largely Barenboim who brought the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to international attention. Another example is the World Orchestra for Peace, which was fronted by Sir Georg Solti.
The World Peace Philharmonic Orchestra also has great supporters in this area. On the orchestra's website, you can see the DR Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor Fabio Luisi promoting the project. Russian-born conductor Vasily Petrenko has also backed the initiative.
In May, the two violinists organised a concert without an audience with conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan on the podium assisted by conductor Thomas Søndergård. It was recorded in the Concert Hall and will be used to convince various foundations that this is a serious project that they will hopefully choose to support.
-"We emphasise that we are in no way political, but we have to recognise that some foundations do not allow us to support anything that can be interpreted politically, but we will continue to apply for funding for the project," says Teresa la Cour.
The recording of the concert with Barbara Hannigan playing Britten and Mahler featured 51 musicians from 23 countries and musicians from the Royal Danish Orchestra. However, all the musicians were attached to projects in the metropolitan area as there is no money to cover travelling expenses.
The Friends have contributed to making a recording of the concert, where the performers performed without remuneration. We hope to be able to publish the recording on our website once we are sure that all rights are in place.
If you want to read more about the World Peace Philharmonic Orchestra, the address on their website is https://worldpeacephil.com/