World star Karl Jenkins composes for concert in Linz

2023-09-20 10:09:00

“One World” will premiere on November 19th at 6 p.m. in the Brucknerhaus in Linz. It’s supposed to be an evening of superlatives: 450 musicians and singers will be on stage, with another 450 singers joining in live. UNESCO has declared the concert a peace concert for 2023. Karl Jenkins will personally conduct the concert. In his work, which includes various musical elements from oratorio to choral and orchestral passages to rap, the 79-year-old was inspired by different cultures and religions, from the Bible to texts by Khalil Gibran, he said on Wednesday at the Presentation in Linz: “A central motif is ‘repair the world’. That’s what our piece wants to do: repair the world.” Included are the World Orchestra for Peace under director Charles Kaye, the World Choir for Peace and the Hard Choir from Leonding, the choir of the musical branch of BORG Linz/Honauerstrasse and singers from all over the world.

The project was initiated by Alex Koller, teacher at BORG Linz and state choir director at the Upper Austrian Choir. Choir association that already worked with Karl Jenkins in Berlin in 2018. “We invited Karl Jenkins to Upper Austria for a project in 2021,” says Koller. At that time, Corona prevented him from coming: “Now everything is fine.” For Dietmar Kerschbaum, director of the Brucknerhaus and the Linzer Liva, the peace concert has a deep meaning: “Music is not a weapon that can be used to force peace. But it can call for peace.” The concert is supported by the city of Linz and the state of Upper Austria.

Info: The premiere of Karl Jenkins’ work “One World” will take place on November 19th at 6 p.m. in the Brucknerhaus. www.brucknerhaus.at