Hello, folks, and Happy New Year!  I hope the holidays were warm and kind for you and yours!

I recently read an incredible article from the BBC, and wanted to share a few bits and pieces of it with you.  The article is called “Musical Willpower: How A Starving Orchestra Helped Leningrad Survive”, written by Jason Caffrey.  I highly recommend you read the entire article…it is fascinating and inspiring!

Long-story-short, the city of Leningrad had been encircled by the invading Nazi army and was under siege from 1942-1944.  Food and supplies were short in the town, and eventually about 750,000 civilians would die during the siege.

Karl Eliasberg, a conductor, received instructions to rehearse and perform Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony.  The few musicians who showed up were starving…and he had to piece together an orchestra.

Against all odds, in the middle of a ferocious siege, with loss of life and filth and starvation all around, an orchestra performed this symphony and broadcast it around the city.

Here’s what Olga Kvade, an 18-year old attendee, said about the experience:

“On the one hand I wanted to cry but at the same time there was a sense of pride.  ‘Damn you, we have an orchestra! We’re at the Philharmonic Hall so you Germans stay where you are!’ We were surrounded by Germans. They were shelling us, but there was this feeling of superiority.”

Isn’t that amazing?  I mean, I still can’t really put into words how that makes me feel.  This music and this performance was such an inspiration to the people of the city that it actually made people more defiant in the face of incredible odds and hardship.

Here’s what absolutely floored me about this story.  After the war, Eliasberg (the conductor) was approached by a group of tourists.  The men had been German soldiers in the siege of Leningrad.  From the article:

The men told Eliasberg that when they heard the performance of Shostakovich’s symphony they understood that a city of people who showed such spirit would not capitulate. One is reported to have said that his comrades shed tears when they heard the music.

“Here were people representing the opposing side of the war, who needed music just as badly as the ones for whom it was composed,” says Bychkov. “Because in the end it was composed for humanity. And the best proof is that today we still need it, we are still listening to it.”

What an incredible and beautiful example of the profound importance of music.  Shostakovich could have stopped composing all together when war was brought to his doorstep…but instead he began writing with an “inhuman intensity”.  Eliasberg could have laughed off the idea of putting together an orchestra of starving musicians…but instead he put it together, rehearsed it, and made the performance a reality.

Music is NECESSARY.  Composing it.  Rehearsing it.  Performing it.

You should know that Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony (Leningrad Symphony) is FANTASTIC.  I highly encourage you to listen to it today.  Just give it a shot…if classical isn’t your thing, listen to whatever it is that makes your heart beat faster and helps you come alive.  That’s the beauty of music…it could be anything!

Lastly, I just feel like saying to you…stay strong.  I don’t know what you may be facing today, but you really can make it.  It is my hope that no matter what life throws at us, we can all stand and defiantly say together:  “Damn you, we have an orchestra!”