This week my best friend will have his piano concerto world premiere at the Kennedy Center in DC. The five movements involve five different states of water. The work bridges New Age ideas with Classical music.

There are problems. One is that it will be missing the first and last movement which contain the main theme enhanced by a children's choir that appears again in the last movement.
Another problem is that if the Mainland China ambassador were to merely recieve an invitation, all hell would break loose and many people would lose their jobs since it is the Taipai Symphony Orchestra that will be also be making their US debut under the baton of the conductor of the Isreal Symphony Orchestra.

This situation flies in the face of the time when the universal language of music and cooperation of nations were paramount as in the day when Leonard Bernstein conducted the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in a work by Shostokovich.

Political grand standing should not belong in the concert hall, even in DC.

If both Chinese ambassadors were to attend I believe diplomacy would be enhanced and not compromised. But I have been warned in no uncertain terms that the danger outweighs the benefit.

what to do
what to do