There is a pit in the stomachs of those still coming to terms with the events that unfolded in Paris on Friday, November 14th. For a blog concerning itself with music, it seems particularly upsetting to find concert goers, emerged in the healing ritual of music to be the target of terror.
This is the first time in recent history that terror has touched music directly. Even a music critic was confirmed as one of the 150 victims. It is never easy to understand why such a senseless act could have been perpetrated against innocent civilians going about their daily lives. There is so much convolution involved with political and religious dogma, and when it touches the art world directly, it is a pale reminder the world’s problems never actually stop at the borders.
The reaction by the international music community reaches far and wide.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra added Elgar’s “Nimrod,” from the Enigma Variations to their November 14 concert at Roy Thompson Hall as a tribute.
The National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa played a musical tribute to the people of Paris the night of the attacks.
The Metropolitan Opera handed out notes to audience members inviting them to sign the French National Anthem before the performance, with Placido Domingo conducting.
Sir Simon Rattle, with the Berlin Philharmonic, held a moment of silence.
Conductor Gianandrea Noseda made a dedication of the US National Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Alfredo Casella’s “Elegia Eroica” to France.
According to Slipped Disc, 23 musicians from 19 countries will be performing a special concert in memory of the many victims of the massacre in Paris on November 16. It will be directed by concertmasters of the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France and the Paris Opéra orchestra, and will include works by Barber and Tchaikovsky. Readers can watch it live here at 1 p.m. EST.
[Update: Nov. 16, 3:30 p.m.]
Opera Atelier’s singers and dancers have joined Tafelmusik in France, and it has been confirmed by M. Laurent Brunner, Directeur of Château de Versailles Spectacles, that Opera Atelier’s performance of Lully’s Armide will be dedicated to the victims of Friday’s terrorist attacks.
Tributes are likely to continue all week. Let us know as they continue to come in.
#LUDWIGVAN
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