tumult at the podium

As godmother of the evening, the actress Meike Droste touches on a sore point right at the beginning of her words of welcome: Why don’t we have an adequate equivalent for the term People of Color in German? In “Chineke! Junior Orchestra”, which performs at the Young Euro Classic Festival in the Konzerthaus, only play non-white up-and-coming talent. Founded in London in 2015, alongside a professional classical ensemble, it aims to give musicians of color a platform.

Meike Droste, a member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and known from the TV series “Mord mit Blick”, thinks it’s good when underrepresented groups gain visibility. But she would just like to have an expression to be able to praise it in her mother tongue. But the 11- to 22-year-old Chineke juniors have to speak for themselves on Thursday, namely in tones – and with the help of their conductor Glass Marcano. The Venezuelan was musically socialized in the famous education program “El Sistema” before she decided to study orchestra conducting in Paris.

A rhythmically tricky piece by Stewart Goodyear

It starts with the “Othello” suite by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor from 1909. The Briton, whose father came from Sierra Leone, wrote high-gloss romance that made the Chineke musicians shine with powerful timbres. Stewart Goodyear’s Callaloo is all about rhythm. The Canadian composer, born in 1978 – his mother was born in Trinidad, his father in Great Britain – was inspired by the mix of styles in the Caribbean. This is tricky for the orchestra and places high virtuoso demands on the solo pianist Gerard Aimontche.
After the break, an approach to Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony follows. Glass Marcano holds the place together, you can see from her suggestive body language, her flowing conducting movements, how the music flows through her – and yet there is always tumult in the tutti passages. The horns drown out the strings, structures blur, it bangs, flashes and steams. Everyone on stage is there with maximum commitment – but the result is only the rough draft of an interpretation.
It’s still fun because of the enormous positive power of the troupe – and at the same time shows what top orchestras can do in terms of detailed work, the art of nuances and atmospheric dramaturgy. Because it takes more than the right notes to make great art possible. With the newly sharpened awareness here, one will be able to appreciate the next visit to the Berlin Philharmonic in a completely new, completely different way.