From Linz to Leningrad

We are performing! Check out the mini write up I co-wrote with K_ and some of the other committee. Love the quote by Victor Hugo... Cos I was the one who found it! Bwahahaha!!!

Check this out. From Linz to Leningrad

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
- Victor Hugo

On 29 October 2006, The Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Lim Yau, sheds its former name (the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra) to begin a new chapter, exploring Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”) and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (“Leningrad”).

Nicknamed after the cities they were composed in and yet written in vastly contrasting circumstances. While traveling through the city of Linz, Mozart composed “Linz” within a short span of four to five days in 1783. Two centuries later, the beleaguered Shostakovich wrote “Leningrad” during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in 1941.

Was Mozart conveying his thoughts towards the city of Linz or just fulfilling an aristocratic fan’s desires? Did Shostakovich express his emotions at the raging war or perhaps, his emotions toward Stalin?

We may never know their intentions, but in our examination of their symphonies, we ask: to what end can music accomplish in today’s world? Can music truly be the common language of different people or is it simply a reflection of time?