Sounds of the Old City: Behind the Scenes of 'O Jerusalem'
Daphna Mor, Julie Andrijeski, Emi Tanabe, Yael Semanaud, and Jeannette Sorrell perform on the stage during a rehearsal. Photo by Camilla Tassi.
NEW YORK — A semicircle of period instruments lines the stage, with a baroque guitar reaching several feet in the air on one side and traditional Middle Eastern percussion instruments filling the hands of ensemble members on the other. Situated at center stage, in front of a massive Medieval piano, Jeannette Sorrell’s fiery red locks bounce as she conducts the orchestra with flourishes that are as performative as directive.
In “O Jerusalem,” Apollo’s Fire, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, brings to the stage the musical roots of each of Jerusalem’s four quarters with poetry and sacred songs from the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Arab sections of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Muslims, Jews, Christians, and non-religious spiritualists sing in traditional Hebrew in a symphony as diverse as the land: Ir me kero, madre, a Yerushalayim! (I want to go to Jerusalem, Mother.)
The road to the stage
The ensemble began as a passion project to revive “the soul of the style” of baroque music, a style from 17th and 18th century Europe.
“Emotional communication was a thing that the writers and teachers of music in the 18th century emphasize above all else— the role of the performer in moving the passions of the listeners,” Sorrell said. “This is what baroque music is supposed to be about, but especially at the time that I started the group, it seemed like most groups weren’t focused on that.”
With this vision in mind, and no money to put toward it, Sorrell began an intense process of on-the-job learning at age 26. She wrote grant proposals and struggled through a self-taught education in the world of marketing and publicity.
“I thought ‘I’ll do this until it dies, then I’ll find something else to do,’ but here I am all these years later,” Sorrell said.
The concepts behind “O Jerusalem” first took form in a previous program, “A Sephardic Journey,” which traced the musical traditions of the Sephardic Jews who were evicted from Spain in 1492 and dispersed throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
For Sorrell, the connection between religion and the baroque mission is inextricable. “Religion was a huge part of life in baroque times. It has a ton of sacred music,” Sorrell said.
The decision to explore faith, then, was an intuitive one. But the immediate success that came out of it came as a surprise.
“Every concert was sold out, and the music was incredibly well received,” Sorrell said. “Everybody was asking for more of that, wanted a kind of a sequel.”
But Sorrell was reluctant to do a mere follow-up. She wanted to further the conversation instead of merely continuing it.
“I thought about the city of Jerusalem as a way to do something that would be more broad and challenging, and cause people to think a little more deeply about issues in society. Because, of course, Jerusalem has been absolutely racked with tension and violence between the Israelis and Palestinians for decades now,” Sorrell said.
Daphna Mor performs. Photo by Camilla Tassi.
A topic of this scope, though, required extensive research and collaboration, combing through centuries of folk music, poetry, and sacred songs from each of the four quarters. According to Sorrell, the diversity of the cast brought life and perspective to the project. Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Armenians all find a place in the ensemble and in the process.
After tedious research, practice, and revision, “O Jerusalem” debuted with five concerts in Cleveland, Ohio in 2018. Every show sold out in advance, Sorrell said.
“Cleveland is not that huge of a city. So when something like that happens, you know you have a program that is really speaking to people and filling a hunger that people have,” she said.
Building on this momentum, the group contacted the director of the concert series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who invited them to bring the program to New York. “O Jerusalem” took the stage in an auditorium in the Egyptian Wing of the museum on Mar. 6 and will continue with a next stop on Mar. 12 in Chicago. The orchestra will perform other shows on Mar. 19 in Napa, April 2 in Columbus and April 5 in Ann Arbor. See the touring schedule for the full list of cities and dates.
Sorrell hopes the show will inspire audiences to think differently about religious tensions in the Middle East.
“When you hear the music of the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims of this time, when you hear it all in one conert you realize that these three groups were living together as neighbors, and their music was influencing each other, and it was really one community. I want people to walk away from this show thinking differently about the Middle East.”
Singers represent musical traditions from Christianity, Judaism and Islam and each quarter of Jerusalem. Photo by Camilla Tassi.
Three faiths in harmony
The show itself is adventurous, bordering between classical music and traditional folk music, with elements of jazz. Most of the musicians have extensive training in both classical and folk styles but with differing affinities.
The array of musical talent, along with the liberty to go off-script on occasion, brings a vibrant experience only amplified by the diversity of the cast.
“We focus on the people of Israel and the ties that bind them,” Sorrell said. “They have always shared meals together, sung together, and danced together.”
The first two songs of the concert capture the shared longing for the land felt by its people. As the lights rise, two violinists glide down the center aisles, and a man with his hands held outward in a prayer position marches toward the stage.
As the ensemble travels through the Jewish Quarter, the audience hears sacred songs that would have wafted through synagogues in the 13th-17th centuries:
My heart is in the East, and I am at the ends of the West. How can I taste what I eat?... It would be easy for me to leave all the bounty of Spain as it is precious for me to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.
These words from Yehuda Halevi, a 12th century rabbi in Andalusia, are performed in Hebrew with the symphony.
The concert winds through each section of the Old City. In the Christian and Armenian sections, the ensemble sings from the Santa Maria Codex, c. 1250: Holy Mary, Star of the Day, show us the way to God and guide us.
A Muslim call to prayer erupts at full volume to usher in the second half of the show. It cascades into the audiences as it would from an ancient minaret, and then fades and blends seamlessly into a Renaissance Gregorian shout. The notes then slowly metamorphose into a Jewish Cantorial Chant.
“It’s powerful because you come out of that section, which is maybe 20 minutes, and you realize that these religions, which have been fighting with each other for centuries, their music is so compatible, and you can just weave from one to the next,” Sorrell said. “They all sit right together, because, in fact, their music was influencing each other and they were hearing it together in Jerusalem where they all lived.”
As the show culminates in the Arab Quarter, Zafer Tawil, a Palestinian musician, takes the stage with a traditional oud and qanun.
Tawil grew up in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem during The First Intifada.
“Like the other kids, I was throwing rocks (at the Israelis) and I didn’t really know why, other than that my elders had told me to,” Zafer said.
He emerged out of that life, in part, by attending an Israeli-run music school where he became a skilled folk musician.
“I had to pass through the Jewish Quarter, to the Muslim Quarter, to the Christian Quarter to get there, carrying my instruments through church bells,” he said.
“I hope one day we [Palestinians] have our freedom. But now, I sing about peace.”
Liza Vandenboom is a student at The King’s College, an intern at Religion Unplugged, and a religion columnist for the Empire State Tribune.