Symphony celebrates NATO's 75th anniversary with music from member nations

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: Last night, a symphony orchestra at the Library of Congress commemorated NATO’s 75th anniversary with an evening of music from its member countries, songs symbolizing hope and solidarity in a trying time.

Here’s a look and a listen for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

The concert by the American Pops Orchestra, organized in part by the Atlantic Council, featured professional members of the Pops playing alongside student musicians, composers, and singers hailing from the 32 countries that make up the NATO alliance.

The founder and conductor of the American Pops Orchestra, Luke Frazier, conceived of the idea himself and shared with me earlier this week why he gathered these student artists.

Luke Frazier, Founder and Conductor, American Pops Orchestra: You know, I think all too often we forget to include younger members of our culture in a discussion about foreign policy and especially those that are not in government or policy spaces.

And I think there’s no better group to include the musicians, who are used to bringing people together of many different backgrounds. So when you marry all those ideas together and my personal commitment to the next generation of musicians, it all came together into this NATO Symphony Orchestra.

Geoff Bennett: Tell me more about the students. What has this experience been like for them?

Luke Frazier: They’re getting an experience that’s unlike any other, not only in their exposure to this diplomatic community, but also in the musical breadth and depth.

And when you’re pivoting all the way from Dvorak to Whitney Houston in one concert, it’s quite the experience for many of these students, who will never get the chance to do that otherwise.

Geoff Bennett: What do you hope they take away from this experience?

Luke Frazier: I hope that they know that they are playing a pivotal role in the future of our world, that by sitting in that orchestral section and telling a story through music, they’re helping bridge the divides among so many of the people in this world, and they’re helping to make this world a better place.

Geoff Bennett: Well, as you mentioned, I mean, just looking at this repertoire, it’s an incredible range of music, both in terms of style and origin, from Chopin to The Weeknd.

What was the message you were trying to convey in choosing that selection of songs?

Luke Frazier: Well, what I wanted to make sure is that we’re representing the breadth and depth of music in our world.

So many students that are being a part of this process are used to a very strict conservatory training, which is mostly focused on classical music. And I must confess, my whole background was classical music, and I love it.

But I want to make sure that we are making classical music relevant to new generations. And we do that by pairing classical music with popular music. And what’s fun is, we’re creating this interesting musical dialogue amongst the students and for the audience with this concert.

Geoff Bennett: That musical dialogue was on full display during the orchestra’s rendition of ABBA’s ’70s hit “Dancing Queen,” which followed this traditional Slovenian folk song.

I know from my own experience, having played in the orchestras when I was a student, there’s always one song that everyone loves to perform the most. What’s that song for this group?

Luke Frazier: You know what’s fascinating is, one of the pieces that the students seem to be responding the most to, there are two, in particular, that I find them the most compelled by.

One is a beautiful operatic piece, the “Intermezzo” from the “Cavalleria Rusticana.” And the other is Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” And what I love is that we have a group of students that are open and able to cover so many styles of music and be excited and inspired by it.

Geoff Bennett: Why is it important, in your view, for a momentous occasion like this marking the 75th anniversary of the most successful alliance in history to have music at its core?

Luke Frazier: I think one of the best examples that the diplomatic community can learn from is the musical community.

So many times, we have to come together from many different walks of life. And particularly with this orchestra, they’re coming from all over the world for just two days of rehearsals to bring themselves to a common purpose, a common musical purpose.

And so what I find so inspiring, as the conductor, is to bring all of these many different backgrounds together and say, look what we can do even in our own musical space. And if we can take the lesson from the students, that’s how we can start bridging these divides.

Geoff Bennett: And our thanks to maestro Luke Frazier for spending some time with us.

His American Pops Orchestra has been featured in 30 national broadcasts here on PBS.