First meeting with the conductors.

This evening I saw the faces behind the names. After a long period of preparation, of interchange e mail, of organizing visa and tickets, there they are. Life in the Netherlands: the conductors of all over the world who will make it happen. The performance of the Poverty Requiem on 17 oktober 2007, on different places in the world on the same day. To raise our voice against poverty, to let them hear that we disagree with this needless disaster.During the few hours we spent in the Hotel I strongly felt the enthusiasm from the participants in the workshop. It’s trilling when people talk about the music and the lyrics and how they work with it in their own situation. It is trilling when they start to sing the melodies I wrote a year before. All the people are really different. Jumana from Palistina, a dancer. In her head she has the outline of a performance with a lot of dancing. David from the USA who will work with the Requiem in high school with students during a month. Ramon from Suriname, who has planned the biggest musical event in Paramaribo. And Falou from Senegal, who will force me to speak slow English during the workshop because he speaks French. And all the others; Malou from the Phillipines, both Phillip and Lungani from the UK, Moses and June from Kenya, Myguel from Portugal and Robert from Gambia Tomorrow there will be another three conductors to join us. So I will work with 14 conductors.I’m looking forward to the next days we will study the poverty requiem and we learn each other the different ways of rehearsing and performing the poverty requiem. I’m a little nervous too. It is so exiting to work with these motivated people.