The Jerusalem Orchestra East & West performed virtually last week with its 36 musicians playing music from their homes in New York and Israel.
Under the leadership of Tom Cohen, the orchestra’s artistic director and chief conductor, the musicians played a new original piece called “Darbuka La Corona,” written by Cohen.
The nearly three-minute clip of their performance was posted on the orchestra’s Facebook page and has already garnered more than 1,000 views since being uploaded on March 25.
Cohen wrote on the orchestra’s Facebook page: “One morning during the first week of this corona frenzy, I suddenly realized that for me, as well as for my orchestra׳s members, this is the first time in 11 years we do not wake up for days of rehearsals, concerts, arrangements, composition and other creative activities that have become our daily routine. When I realized that the orchestra’s WhatsApp group continued to be vibrant and active—I immediately sat down to do the only thing I know how … I wrote a small piece that aims to make us all happy and show our love and familliarity (sic), that is more powerful than anything else. I wanted it to be both very simple yet complexed, ‘high’ but at eye level–just like us.”
He added, “I hope these sounds and images, of all 35 members of the orchestra, regardless their age, religion, gender or origin—from Majd al krum to Ashkelon, from Jerusalem to New York—celebrating love and longing for friendship and music, will help us all go through this period together.”
