The Cogut Center for the Humanities has teamed up with a group of Israeli and Palestinian musicians to create a summer institute in Berlin. A pilot program will send Brown students to the German capital this spring break to collaborate with musicians from Nazareth, Israel.
Brown has been developing a relationship with the group, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, since its December 2006 visit to campus, according to Michael Steinberg, professor of history and music and director of the Cogut Center. That visit, which included a performance and discussions, led to an invitation to partner with the orchestra.
The University asked, "How can we make this a more ambitious program?" said Steinberg, who is spearheading the project in collaboration with Nabeel Abdullah Ashkar of the orchestra as well as the Daniel Barenboim Foundation in Berlin. He is in the process of developing a curriculum that focuses on educating through music.
The mission is "learning to hear" and to develop a "capacity for understanding people different from ourselves," Steinberg said. "Everyone is converging to build something that is truly synthetic and original in its disciplinary connections."
"Exactly what we're studying?" said Dylan Nelson '11. "That's a good question."
"It's about bringing people with diverse interests together — not necessarily with a scripted conversation — but to experiment with different forms of discussion and raise open questions in pursuit of knowledge that could then become a positive force for the world," said Nelson, a Cogut fellow who has been involved in the planning of the project and was selected to participate in a pilot program during spring break.
Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, offered to provide space to Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra's conductor and co-founder, to use for a purpose "that embraces the values of democracy after the fall of the Berlin Wall," Steinberg said. The building, which is located next to the Berlin State Opera House, is currently under renovation, and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry has made an "extremely exciting offer" to participate in the design of the building as a pro bono project, Steinberg said.
The orchestra, which according to its website is made up of an equal number of Israeli and Arab musicians, meets each summer in Seville for rehearsals, lectures and discussions, followed by an international concert tour.
The nascent program's first session is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2013 or 2014, contingent on the renovation of the space. It will be staffed by Brown professors and involve around 40 students from the Middle East. A pilot program, running during this year's spring break, will include six Brown students and six musicians from Nazareth.
Nelson said it is "unclear how the relationship with the students from Palestine will play out." It is a "pretty formidable" task to bring students of different ages and educational backgrounds together, he said, but "the general aim is to have an openness of discussion that would not necessitate rigorous academic thought."
The program's use of classical Western music has received some criticism, according to Henry Peck '11, a leader of Brown's Common Ground who will participate in the pilot program. But Peck added that the music provides a "clean tool" for dialogue. "I see classical music as a neutral medium with no particular resonance for either community," Peck said.
Nelson also voiced support for the choice of medium. "To communicate globally, one must open oneself to global modes of communication, and at this point, classical music is that global means," he said.
Steinberg has selected students for the pilot who have interests in music, international relations and Middle Eastern studies, he said. He hopes that the students who attend the pilot will remain involved with the project at Brown.
Nelson said he is applying for an AT&T New Media Fellowship from the Watson Institute for International Studies to continue working with the orchestra in Nazareth this summer. Peck said he intends to remain part of the initiative "possibly afterward in Europe, or from here," he said.
The Cogut Center has received a gift to pay for the students to attend the pilot, Steinberg said, and the Daniel Barenboim Foundation has taken financial responsibility for the renovation of the space. The financial plan for the second phase — the program itself — has yet to be developed, he added.
Peck described the project as an "orchestra without borders" that is using "music as a language to redress mass injustice and connect communities that have historical disagreements."
Nelson also said he saw significant potential for the project. "By bringing together people on the ground with scholars, this project could integrate different forms of knowledge into a meaningful message for the world," he said.
Steinberg called the initiative a "real education project."
"It's very Brown, it's very original, it's very interdisciplinary," he said.
