Review: “In War & Peace: Harmony through Music”

I reviewed “In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music,” a concert/project by Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro, for The Kansas City Star.

For a brief time read the review here.

This project, with the concert tour and album, also includes a dedicated website to collect responses to the question: “In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?”

This card, designed by Ken Sheldon and provided by Hallmark, was inserted in the program with a response card, the question presented in 16 languages. The falling petal motif and these hands — reaching lifting grasping striving — remind me of Rilke.

It is good to love, too: love being difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.

Of the works performed, Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga” has infiltrated my soul, as it was intended to do. DiDonato has a great promo video for this project, along with some fun behind the scenes bits. Additionally, the Harriman-Jewell Series and the National World War I Museum hosted a panel discussion on conflict resolution.