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In the Presence of Spiritual Royalty
Apr. 15th, 2008 09:07 pmI took off work today to perform the choral finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the Seeds of Compassion closing conference. In attendance were His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sister Joan Chittister, and many other luminaries of the world's religions, who formed a discussion panel.
The combined orchestra and chorus totaled 600; my guess is that about 100 of that number were instrumentalists and the remaining 500 were us choristers. The orchestra were seated on stage behind the panel, with the chorus in the bleachers above and behind them all the way to the rafters. I sat a few rows from the back.
Most of the panel discussion centered around what world religions can do to foster compassion for others, especially as it pertains to youth. Throughout, there was a playful banter going on between the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop, and it seemed obvious that these holy men had some experience in sharing a stage and that they enjoyed one another's company.
Two points that were made stuck in my mind:
First, the Dalai Lama mentioned that he had learned that the Buddha had deliberately taught mutually contradictory philosophies to certain groups of his followers, and when this was pointed out to him, he observed that people have different mental constitutions and will receive his teachings differently.
Second, the rabbi who was present, when presented with a question about "what responsibility do the world's religions have to work together to spread compassion?", mentioned that any religion that refused to engage with society is, in his opinion, not worthy of the name "religion".
I was disappointed that the panelists left the stage before our performance began, but it would have been awkward for them to hear the music coming from behind them on the stage. My assumption is that the panelists were seated elsewhere, perhaps in a "green room" out of the audience's view.
For only having worked with the music for a week, and only running through the piece three times last night prior to today's performance, I was surprised to find it came off without a hitch (although I'm sure I completely lost my way during the "Prestissimo" -- i.e. as fast as possible -- section toward the end, there were enough choristers who had done this before that it did not matter much if at all).
After the performance Archbishop Tutu came back to the stage and shook hands with the conductor and otherwise expressed his appreciation of our performance. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I'm sure for all concerned.
Here is the webcast of this morning's event. The Beethoven begins at about 2:15:00 on the recording.
The combined orchestra and chorus totaled 600; my guess is that about 100 of that number were instrumentalists and the remaining 500 were us choristers. The orchestra were seated on stage behind the panel, with the chorus in the bleachers above and behind them all the way to the rafters. I sat a few rows from the back.
Most of the panel discussion centered around what world religions can do to foster compassion for others, especially as it pertains to youth. Throughout, there was a playful banter going on between the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop, and it seemed obvious that these holy men had some experience in sharing a stage and that they enjoyed one another's company.
Two points that were made stuck in my mind:
First, the Dalai Lama mentioned that he had learned that the Buddha had deliberately taught mutually contradictory philosophies to certain groups of his followers, and when this was pointed out to him, he observed that people have different mental constitutions and will receive his teachings differently.
Second, the rabbi who was present, when presented with a question about "what responsibility do the world's religions have to work together to spread compassion?", mentioned that any religion that refused to engage with society is, in his opinion, not worthy of the name "religion".
I was disappointed that the panelists left the stage before our performance began, but it would have been awkward for them to hear the music coming from behind them on the stage. My assumption is that the panelists were seated elsewhere, perhaps in a "green room" out of the audience's view.
For only having worked with the music for a week, and only running through the piece three times last night prior to today's performance, I was surprised to find it came off without a hitch (although I'm sure I completely lost my way during the "Prestissimo" -- i.e. as fast as possible -- section toward the end, there were enough choristers who had done this before that it did not matter much if at all).
After the performance Archbishop Tutu came back to the stage and shook hands with the conductor and otherwise expressed his appreciation of our performance. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I'm sure for all concerned.
Here is the webcast of this morning's event. The Beethoven begins at about 2:15:00 on the recording.
