Where is Europe? Who or what is Europe? A region, people, ideas? Not long ago it seemed unthinkable, but today we take it for granted: open borders, a common currency, the option of living and working anywhere in Europe, the chance to make friends across national boundaries and to speak several languages, to communicate with people from Portugal to Finland and from France to Hungary. And it seems that our varied ways of life mix together with ease – we enjoy Italian espresso and French wine just as much at home as when we are served it in a café in Norway.
For the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Europe in all of its various dimensions represents home. Where other orchestras might have a single city that serves as workplace and residence, that provides rehearsal space and a regular audience, we have Europe as our common denominator; it is the centre of our activities and experiences and the shared backdrop for the people who are important to our work.
Europe is the space where our members live and work – currently, they come from 16 European countries, including all of Europe’s main member states, as well as from the USA, Japan and South Korea; they travel from their homes to each project and bring with them their languages, their lifestyles, their experiences, and also their specific musical traditions. Each season our activities take place in more than ten different countries in Europe, and to each location we bring our idea and our experience of the European spirit.
The music, too, the MCO’s repertoire, has a definite European basis – the main repertoire is rooted in the Western tradition, from baroque to modernity. It wasn’t until the end of the 20th century that composers succeeded in incorporating influences and traditions from outside of Europe with ease. The repertoire speaks of the history of European thought – the spirit of the Enlightenment, values such as freedom and humanity, and the image of man as a free and emotional being, searching to develop and expand himself – we find all of this expressed in music from Mozart to Schoenberg. Musicians have always left their mark all over Europe – from Mozart via stagecoach to Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado today via airplane. Musical traditions and styles have always been mixed and matched; Mozart, Handel, and also Wagner and Stravinsky are only a few examples. And of course today’s conductors and soloists also represent a large variety of nations and traditions.
Although Europe and many of its practical trappings have by now become regular parts of daily life, Europe still also finds itself in the midst of a crisis of acceptance, which becomes apparent in, for example, the difficult discussions about the constitution or in the widespread view that Europe is little more than an unwieldy bureaucracy. The difficulty may arise from the fact that entities that become too big tend to become alien to us. We need local roots that provide security and trust and give us the basis for larger-scale thinking. And we also need openness and tolerance for new experiences and different ideas, and the drive to become familiar with new things and to integrate them into our lives.
The MCO, as a microcosm of Europe, sets an example in this regard in its daily existence – each new tour brings a new mixture of players and nationalities to a particular country, and for a short period of time these diverse people share their lives with one another very intensely. A double bass section that unites three musicians from Turkey, Armenia and South Korea gives an idea of the kind of exchange that occurs daily in the MCO. Ultimately, the ensemble playing and the extraordinary concerts are what matter, rather than what country or city the musicians come from. Or perhaps this matters as well: these may be the very circumstances that require and inspire so much openness and energy in engaging with the musicians and their music.
