‘Music is a moral law’
Dear friends and patrons of the Phil,
Firstly, we sincerely hope that you are all well and in good spirits.
It is about three months ago now that we postponed our Drawn to the Music and May concerts due to the coronavirus pandemic, and since that time, live music and performing arts gatherings of any kind have come to a silent standstill around the world. Just when perhaps we need them most, the arts have been unable to share – live – their messages of hope, confidence, resilience, and inspiration. Plato, 2,500 years back, said “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” So, without music, where are we? Certainly, that is worth thinking about. Where is our soul, and where are our wings?
We, the Phil, want to let you know that we are thinking of you, dear patrons, and very much miss sharing our music with you directly. Not only are you on our minds, but we know that you also miss having a live orchestra to raise your spirits from time to time. I imagine too that each player’s instrument is somehow lonely now, dormant in its case, cut off from participating in the symphonic and sylvan sounds of Beethoven and Bruckner, Mozart and Mahler. Our horns and trumpets, flutes and violas, trombones and cellos; they, too, anticipate the ride to the hall, the communion with their fellow instruments!
Personally, I am brimming with confidence that the music of the Phil will ring out again, more true, more sure, more harmonious than ever before. Through music, with your help and participation, we will answer Martin Luther King’s call: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'”
The Phil, as you can sense when we perform, is a community of friends – friends who love to play and share their music. Is there a person on the planet who does not love music of some kind? Music, and especially live music, has the capacity not only to enervate and lift up, but also to help heal divisions and bring together folks from the most diverse backgrounds. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the conductor and composer of West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein wrote: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” The Phil unreservedly embraces Bernstein’s and King’s calls.
You will find our program for next season on our website. There is music for everyone, from the wild and at once pensive Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, to the Shakespeare-inspired pieces by Prokofiev and Bernstein. And of course, our season would not be complete without Tchaikovsky’s beloved Nutcracker music and the Holiday Pops.
We so look forward to connecting with you again and sharing our passion with you, live!