We began our autumn tour with a series of concerts with maximum audience participation!
Our first stop was Dortmund in Germany where we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the ‘Kommende’, an organisation which works for peace and justice in a social setting. Over 150 girls and boys joined our Start Now Project, and we also contributed with our music in a concluding ceremony of this celebration with the presence of various guests among whom the Mayor of Dortmund, Dr. Manfred Sauer, the European Commissioner Günther Oettinger, and Dr. Peter Klasvogt, director of the Kommende.
Dortmund has a special place in our hearts because it was in Dortmund that we had the moving experience with those three students who pressed 25 euros into our hands urging us to use them to continue to work with young people in need. That gesture was the inspiration behind our crowdfunding project for our tour in Central America, which then was realized early this year, so returning to Dortmund was special for us.
It was challenging but fascinating work that made us realize once again there is hope in this world and each one of us can do his/her part.
One of the participants in the project told us: the Start Now project taught us to have trust in others, it gave us a positive experience of team work even with people of other cultures and audience’s applause gave us joy because it showed us that our efforts were recognized.
From Dortmund we moved on to do a series of Acoustic Concerts in various “Fazenda da Esperança”, in Hellefeld (in Sundern), Boppard, and Wattwil (Switzerland). Each place with its own characteristics and beauty, but also with a common experience of shared life and gifts. We want to express our great gratitude for each person we met for his/her hope, trust, joy of “making a difference” in this suffering world.
The last stops of Gen Verde Acoustic were in Italy, in Busca (CN) – near our violinist Annalisa’s hometown – where we held not only a concert but also a mini-workshop with fantastic young people – and in Saronno (VA); a brief stay but a profound moment.
A common experience in each place was the great participation of the audience: in some moments there was deep silence which expressed a profound listening, and in others the hall rocked with an explosion of joy. Endless applause expressed the audience’s adherence to the message they not only heard but sang and danced to. It was difficult to say: “this is the last song…”.
Those who were present told us that the concerts brought them an overwhelming array of emotions that are capable of touching the soul; and they said they’d take home beauty, deep emotions, joy and hope, clarity, tenderness, witness of fraternity and peace. Someone said they appreciated “the universal language of music and the clarity and courage they found in the message”; someone else shared us the impression that the concert was “like a wind that reignites the embers that are in the hearts of people”.
And we hold in our hearts an immense gratitude for all the people we met.
