On 15 September 2023, a new orchestra will see the light of day: the oneMusic Orchestra will perform for the first time under its founder and conductor Yoel Gamzou – as part of the Fellowship Project at Beethovenfest Bonn. We put five questions to Yoel Gamzou.
1. Beethovenfest 2023 is a festival about life. What place does music have in your life?
It sounds like a cliché to say »I live for music«. But in fact, I believe that for a musician (and for many people who are not musicians but love music), music can be as existential as water or oxygen.
Music is not a profession or a job. Music is a state in which things are possible that cannot be experienced otherwise. For me, music is the only state in which I can feel myself. The moment when I can and must make myself 100% vulnerable in order to feel, to sense, to communicate.
Music is the moment when 1,000 people have the same experience – and each one feels something completely different. We have emotions we didn’t know we had. Listening to music is both an individual and collective overwhelming experience. It is a magical utopia of fusion between the individual and the community. A moment of total surrender and letting go.
2. You are bringing your newly founded oneMusic Orchestra to Bonn. What does one.Music stand for?
OneMusic is my new orchestra, which I have been developing with my wonderful colleagues over the past two years, and which will make its debut at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2023. OneMusic is not just an orchestra, it is above all a way of thinking – we believe that no art form will survive if it becomes nothing more than a museum. No matter how brilliant and unique the old masterpieces may be, every art form needs both: the canon of the old masters and the new works created in and by our time.
We believe that much of the new music of the last 100 years has been composed without an audience in mind, and has disturbed and frightened many people. Our aim is to commission and perform new music that touches people. Our music scene today is richer and more diverse than ever before – there is so much talent, so many different styles, so many signatures and personalities. But these are rarely found in ›contemporary classical‹ music.
We want to think beyond genres – that’s why we’re called »oneMusic«. For us, there is only good music that touches people – no divisions or boundaries. We want to work with the best musicians from all backgrounds to create new music that is contemporary, yet sensual and emotional. We counter the new music with unique and intense performances of the old works.
3. How do you see your role as conductor of your new orchestra?
A conductor is nothing more than a musical tour guide. You have a plan, an idea, a vision – a route. Then you have to gain the trust of your musicians that this route will at least lead to an exciting destination! Ultimately it’s about honesty and integrity, because nobody knows where a journey will lead. But the process has to be honest! As a conductor, you must never forget that the baton cannot produce a single note. As a conductor you can influence an incredible amount, you can paint with time, you can create an atmosphere. But in the end, the magic comes from the musicians. You must never lose that humility.
4. What was particularly important to you when coming up with the programme for the concert?
Our motto at oneMusic is always ›50/50 old and new‹ – half of the programmes are existing works, the other half are world premieres. We don’t follow this dogmatically, of course, but in principle we are convinced that the old masterpieces are heard in a completely different way when they are juxtaposed with new, relevant works. But it was also important to me to give a platform to some artists who are very dear to me – such as the soloist Elisha Abas, an eccentric genius on the piano who has often found no place in the mainstream because of his radicalism. I myself am only here because a few people along the way gave me a chance and allowed me to stay true to my music. I have the feeling that I now want to pass on this trust.
5. Many artists and we as a festival are asking ourselves what our own contribution to a sustainable future can look like. How do you answer this?
I think everyone has to see in which area and in which form they can best contribute. It would be absurd for me to try to save the environment as a musician. You mustn’t fall into the trap of doing such actions for your own vanity – the impact must always be in the foreground. So I ask myself: where can I have the biggest impact, how can I achieve the most? I think my job is to touch people. We live in a world that is made up of many processes and mechanisms that prevent us from feeling. The industrial, capitalist world makes sure that the individual doesn’t think too much, produces as much as possible and is not distracted from its growth mania. With my music I want to bring people closer to themselves. I don’t want to prescribe an experience, I want everyone to experience something completely individual at our concerts. But they should feel themselves. There are not so many opportunities for that nowadays. And if we can do that, it will be an enormous contribution to sustainability. Because if our listeners are inspired by such experiences, they will be able to discover and pursue their mission and their own contribution better and more sincerely.
