The MiraculousDec/Jan 2023–24Music
59. 1999 (and later), Weimar, Germany
Word count: 158
Paragraphs: 3
A Jewish orchestra conductor and a Palestinian-Christian literary scholar, both preeminent in their fields, organize a workshop in the German city of Weimar for young classical musicians, both Jewish and Muslim, from across the Middle East. Meant to be a one-time event, the project evolves into a musical academy and a professional touring orchestra. After a particularly violent period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a cellist in the orchestra describes it as a place “where the harsh reality in which we live and the frustration in light of a situation which we cannot really change, are met with an opportunity to grieve together, be mad together, create a massive sound. An orchestra cannot change politics and definitely cannot bring a peace agreement. But it can change the lives of many of those who hear about it; of those who listen to its music. It absolutely changes the lives of its musicians.”
(Daniel Barenboim, Edward Said, Daniela Shemer)
Raphael Rubinstein is the New York-based author of The Miraculous (Paper Monument, 2014) and A Geniza (Granary Books, 2015). Excerpts from his recently completed book Libraries of Sand about the Jewish-Egyptian writer Edmond Jabès have appeared in Bomb, The Fortnightly Review and 3:AM Magazine. In January 2023, Bloomsbury Academic will publish a collection of his writing titled Negative Work: The Turn to Provisionality in Contemporary Art. Since 2008 he has been Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Houston School of Art.