Welcome
This issue features two contrasting tales of community music-making – one funded by colossal sums of money, the other born from the considerably poorer, dustier streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Kinshasa, a group of women, with the help of a dynamic Japanese flautist, has formed a chamber ensemble, and is touring and inspiring local townships with performances on instruments they maintain and repair themselves, often using sundry bits of plastic and wood. Jessica Jane Hart’s uplifting photo story on p36 shows what can be done with a combination of determination, passion and necessity – and, if the photographs are to go by, a great deal of joy.
Meanwhile, 6,500 miles away in the US, where money is no object, equally staggering things are being done. The New World Center, perched on the Miami coast, is wired up with technology that only a years ago would have seemed outlandishly futuristic. Impressively, the Center’s ultra high-speed internet enables it to conduct – with no time-lag – masterclasses with anyone, anywhere in the world. With the right investment
(and without the headaches that international videoconferencing currently gives us), world-class tuition is just a click away. Is it possible that our ensemble in Kinshasa might benefit one day soon?