Ramallah, 18-04-06: World-renowned conductor, Daniel Barenboim, visited Ramallah today to conduct a special rehearsal with the Young Palestine Chamber Orchestra in preparation for an upcoming concert this Saturday at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. The concert will be performed by some 60 young Palestinians from Ramallah and Nazareth, and will be conducted by Anna-Sophie Bruening.*
The Orchestra was launched by the Barenboim-Said Foundation in 2003 in partnership with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and the Friends' School. It forms part of the Foundation’s vision to integrate music into the fabric of society, to promote the spirit of peace, dialogue and reconciliation through music, and to encourage education and formative activity in the field of music. [1]
Mr. Barenboim pointed out that this visit, one of many to Ramallah, had special significance in view of the gravity of the current political situation. He hailed the talent and determination of the Orchestra’s young participants, and added that “Saturday will be a day when Palestinians can be proud; where young people from Ramallah and Nazareth will come together to play in a full symphony orchestra.”
Mr. Barenboim was accompanied Mariam Said, wife of the late Edward Said, who said that it had been her husband’s long-standing dream to hear classical music played by Palestinian youth, and that he would have been proud of the achievements these young people had made.
The two were greeted by Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, a movement that he co-founded together with Dr. Said and others. Dr. Barghouthi thanked Mr. Barenboim and Mrs. Said for the important gesture of solidarity that their visit represented.
The group also visited the Edward Said Musical Kindergarten, another project of the Barenboim-Said Foundation, which is run in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. It aims to integrate music into the pre-school curriculum and to allow disadvantaged Palestinian children to communicate freely through music and song as a means of coping with the reliaty of living under occupation. The Kindergarten serves 16 4 year-olds from the refugee camps Al Amari and Quadura near Ramallah.