Inayah Raheem of Steilacoom, WA, was among nearly 200 student musicians from Oberlin College and Conservatory to perform works spanning three centuries in the magnificent Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall Dec. 2. The private gala was held for the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations to honor the work of Csaba Kőrösi, president of the UN General Assembly, and diplomatic and UN staff communities around the world.
Under the direction of Raphael Jiménez, a professor of conducting and director of Oberlin Orchestras, the program included Adolphus Hailstork’s triumphal Fanfare on Amazing Grace; Sergei Rachmaninoff’s emotionally charged Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125—widely regarded as a celebration of irrepressible unity, with its iconic “Ode to Joy.”
The evening signaled the symbolic launch of an innovative new partnership between Oberlin College and Conservatory, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts to improve access to education for students around the world and to enhance quality of life through education and the performing arts. “We believe that espousing art and education is an embrace of our common humanity,” said Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar in an address to an audience of 1,800 diplomats and invited guests. “And this approach is a way to change the world.”
