Scherzando (Netherlands)
On the occasion of the concert on September 21st, Frits van Vugt, Chairman of the organizing committee wrote a few sentences about how music contributes to global peace and about their ideas for World Peace Day.
Making music as a contribution to peace
The work by Jenkins, The Peacemakers, is dedicated to the great minds, who embody the thrive for peace. With their leadership and inspiration, they show mankind the spiritual and practical road to peace. Their wise words make up the lyrics of The Peacemakers. Supported by the music of Karl Jenkins the words immerse us and bring the texts close to our heart. So often when singing I feel the shivers and the words make an even deeper impression.
Music speaks directly to the heart and brings us in contact with our deepest emotions. Singing in a choir brings people together. Maybe it is the joint effort in creation of harmony (and disharmony) that evokes this feeling of connection and unity. Choral singing requires that we listen carefully and with respect to the other members of the choir, our companions.
In this line of thinking I am convinced that singing and making music together essentially is a contribution to peace and understanding. Like the words of Mother Theresa (see no 10 in The Peacemakers: “Peace begins with a smile.”). It is about openness to the other, about listening to the other voices, joining hands to reach a goal beyond the limitations of the individual person.
Our motivation
Scherzando performed Karl Jenkins’ work The Armed Man in 2015. This work touches many people because it expresses the horrors of war and calls upon us to stop fighting. The Armed Man deeply impressed many in our choir. Therefore, when the suggestion came up to sing The Peacemakers the members of our choir embraced the idea whole-heartedly and with enthusiasm. The initiative from Luzern to make it a world-wide project added to that. We hope the international connection will develop into a successful event. Peace by all means is not confined to local level. Peace is a universal good. The longing for Peace is shared by all people around the world. Now that war is raging in Ukraine the atrocities and horror are brought to our doorstep and we are reminded ever more that Peace cannot be taken for granted.
Our plans for September 21th
From the beginning we, in the Scherzando choir, had the wish to embed our concert on World Peace Day in a broader context and to connect it to other activities, in the same day or week. To achieve more focus on the theme of World Peace in our community, we are actively looking for all kind of initiatives and events that are to be undertaken, or that can be set up regarding the theme of peace. We develop ideas that hopefully inspire others to organize events and happenings. A line of thought is to organize an event together with the schools in the region. This would stimulate the youngsters to pay attention to world peace. We also consider giving an additional concert on an education institution for future teachers. These initiatives I consider as an investment in the future: it is the younger generation that will live in the world of tomorrow. Let us inspire them to build a better future, with more understanding, more respect and tolerance, careful listening to other voices, less fighting, pain and suffering. I hope our concert will plant the seeds for a more peaceful future.
About the concert
The organisation of the concert is on track to become a major event.
We expect to have around 100 singers on stage.
This also connects us to our own public, the people that know us and we want to cherish the connection with them: we celebrate a long-standing tradition with this special occasion on World Peace Day