How does Maastricht Northwest sound?
How can orchestras make new connections with their environment? This can be done, for example, by playing or composing for or together with people who do not often visit the concert hall, such as young people, young parents, the mentally handicapped, the homeless or school students. Philharmonie zuidnederland, for example, develops projects in which musicians visit schools. In the beautiful educational performance Orpheus! The musicians play and act the story of the young singer who loses his beloved Eurydice in such a way that children not only sympathize intensely, but also experience how music can express the strong emotions in that story.
Traditionally, symphony orchestras have been expected to strive for a high artistic level, both in programming and in performance. But an orchestra in the middle wanting to be part of society also raises the question: what is the social value of classical music? One of the research themes within the Maastricht Center for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM) focuses on this issue. Unlike theater or contemporary visual art, classical music does not automatically make a connection with the world in which we live. Why is it important that we play this music? Why now and here? And for whom?
The third experiment that the MCICM is conducting this season together with the philharmonie zuidnederland is based on these kinds of questions. Five musicians from the orchestra will hit the road in Maastricht's northwest district in April. By participating in activities in this idiosyncratic neighbourhood, the musicians listen to the stories, concerns, and ideals of residents. How can these resonate in classical music?
Unlike many existing education or community music projects, this experiment does not aim to introduce people to the world of classical music. We turn it around. We investigate how classical music can help to make connections between people and, literally, give them a voice. We hope that musicians and residents will find each other as like-minded citizens. In this experiment, the musicians reflect not so much on the musicians who played at court or in church in the pre-Romantic era, but rather on their early predecessors, the troubadours who, while traveling, interpreted what was going on in the community.
Ties van de Werff, Imogen Eve Cooney and Peter Peters
Researchers MCICM
