The Symphony Orchestra’s extraordinary triple bill at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday may well have been an occasion for such reflection. Three concerts in one day, each with Kirill Karabits at the podium, bringing together five musical cultures. First Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, then Georgia and Armenia, and finally Ukraine.
Five different Voices from the East. I attended the middle concert but was left with one overwhelming thought. Led by Karabits, the BSO, its musicians and audiences have been on an incredible journey in the past 15 years to bring those voices to wider knowledge, understanding and appreciation.
While that journey has been in progress (and will continue with Karabits as artistic director Voices from the East rather than chief conductor ) this part of the world has been in turmoil and uncertainty and under threat to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the geography. Therefore, how timely and important has this project been and how vital to cherish, celebrate, protect and fight for that music, culture and those voices of nationhood and national identity. It's one more example of the overwhelming global power of music.
Styx by Georgian composer Giya Kancheli was delicate and fragile then powerful and thunderous. In Greek mythology, it is the River Styx that must be crossed in voyaging from the land of the living to land of the dead. The other-wordly, ethereal experience of this piece was provided by the wonderful Bournemouth Symphony Chorus while so.
