UNITED NATIONS, UNITED IN MUSIC FOUNDATION SIGN AGREEMENT

 

FOR LAUNCH OF UNITED NATIONS ORCHESTRA

 

Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyotaka Akasaka, the Executive Director of United Nations Volunteers, Ad De Raad, and the Director of the United in Music Foundation, Geert Boogaard, will sign an agreement today to launch the creation of an “Orchestra for the United Nations”. 

Under-Secretary-General Akasaka welcomes the partnership between the United Nations and the Amsterdam-based Foundation.  “The Orchestra is a unique project which will galvanize support for the UN through music and multi-media projects focused on the UN’s ideals, values and priorities.” 

By signing the agreement today, the United Nations will agree that the Orchestra will perform under the name “United in Music:  The Orchestra for the United Nations”.  The Foundation will work closely with the organization to achieve its goals, once the Orchestra is launched in the coming months. 

The innovative concept is the brainchild of Mr. Boogaard who approached the United Nations with the support of the Government of the Netherlands.  The most important objective of the Orchestra is to communicate the essence of the United Nations to hundreds of millions of people and to show the world what the United Nations stands for.  In so doing, the Orchestra will become a communications tool for the UN.  “We often need a thousand words to get a simple message across and sometimes we only need one language:  music.  I view music as a way to inspire people to embrace the ideals of the United Nations and to feel the need for voluntary action.”

Mr. Boogaard’s career has included five years as a business manager of the Ricciotti Ensemble -- a 40–piece youth orchestra -- during which he produced some 400 concerts in unusual locations, from the cathedral tower in the city of Utrecht to the southernmost point in Africa on the Cape of Good Hope, from an opera for the homeless to a concert tour through war-torn Bosnia.  Creating an orchestra to serve the needs of the United Nations has been a visionary idea of his for many years.

The Orchestra will be composed of 52 professionally-trained young musicians from all the world’s regions and cultures.  When the Orchestra plays abroad, it will include guest musicians from the countries being visited.  The Orchestra will play music from around the world or music specially composed for it, but will not be a classical orchestra. 

Both the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) will partner with the United in Music Foundation to realize the project.  DPI will provide guidance on United Nations goals, priorities, themes, observances and international conferences, assist in developing the most appropriate communications strategies, and cooperate in the promotion of the Orchestra’s outreach activities.  In close cooperation with the Foundation, UNV will recruit the musicians of various nationalities as UNV volunteers and assign them to serve in the Orchestra.  Through its field presence UNV will facilitate and coordinate logistical arrangements with United Nations system organizations for the performances, tours and other events organized for the Orchestra.  Through the partnership, the Orchestra for the United Nations will illustrate the impact of volunteerism for development and peace.

For more information on the signing ceremony and the future role of the Orchestra, contact Y. Acosta (DPI) at tel.:  212 963 7214, and/or D. Keher (UNV), tel.:  +49 228 815 2119. 

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For information media • not an official record