I don’t know HOW the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra did THIS gorgeous online musical collaboration, but listen to it (in the link below), then stand up and👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏!!!
Wow. Wow. Wow!!🎵🎵🎵
In fact, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms right now are full of classical soloists and ensembles of all kinds making great music during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are struggling to find ways to overcome the limits of staying-at-home and "social distancing" that people all over the world have been asked to observe at this time for the common good.
Of course, we would all rather be in the concert hall... but they’re doing what they can to share the gift of music, and at the same time creatively exploring the boundaries of communications technology.
Also, please, let’s not forget that these wonderful people need food to eat and roofs over their heads just like everyone else. Let's not forget them, their needs, their humanity. Let's not forget anybody. Let's remember the needs of persons, families, and communities everywhere.
This is not just about calculations, statistics, or pure mechanical efficiency. It's not about winners and losers. It's about persons-in-community, and due attention must be given to life, health, and safety, as well as how we live together in peace and equity, pursuing the many facets of the human vocation.
Human persons have minds and hearts to make this kind of music, and minds and hearts that are moved by this kind of music. What a wonder it is to be human!
And what a challenge! How strange, conflicted, and obscure we are, but also how persistent, innovative, adaptable, and courageous we can be. We are drawn by greatness, by the beauty that surprises us even in the most desperate circumstances. Our hearts are challenged by life to do whatever is possible, and beyond that our hearts even find the audacity to beg for the impossible.
We must continue to search and struggle, to ask and to offer ourselves in the circumstances of our lives. Even when we are overwhelmed, we cannot give up. We must ask for the inspiration that can carry us beyond our failures and limits.
We are called to find ways to address the present crisis and many other complex needs and responsibilities now and in the future, moving forward together in solidarity and respect for for the dignity and freedom of every person, supporting and helping one another, sharing our own gifts and opening our hearts to “the creativity of love.”
Listen to what this orchestra has achieved:
