I understand that next year's concert is already on the books. When I attended on of the classes, which included students of Dutch composers Klaas de Vries and Peter Jan Wagemans, I was impressed by how international the student population was. In the fall of 1998, avant-garde opera director and producer Peter Sellars was awarded the Netherlands' most coveted cultural award, the Erasmus prize. Among his most devoted fans is Her Majesty Queen Beatrix, who never misses a Sellars production in the Netherlands. Last year, Joel Cohen and the Boston Camerata, the acclaimed early music group, was awarded the Edison Award for his recording of the Cantigas Sancta Maria, 12th century Moroccan hymns of praise to the Virgin Mary that Cohen revived together with Moroccan musicians.
Dutch musicians come to America also.
After their return to the Netherlands I attended their performance of contemporary American music, played while images of the ensemble frolicking in the California surf flashed onto a screen. For democracies such as the United States and the Netherlands diverse forms of music can give voice to the diversity of our populations. Too often, though, the dominance of popular culture projects a monochromatic image of American culture. Given the financial constraints of many classical, avant-garde or specialist musicians, Embassies and diplomats can play an important role in introducing to their host countries the full spectrum of American music. More fundamentally, music can embody the values of a country.