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Building bridges through music
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In harmony: Participants of the recent Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's music camp in Yogyakarta. (-/Erlinawati Graham)
F
or Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) managing director Sophie Galaise, 19th century fairytale-teller Hans Christian Andersen’s quotation that said “when words fail, music speaks” still strikes the right chord.
“Musical styles and cultural differences don’t need to be barriers,” she said recently at Yogyakarta’s Sanata Dharma University as Australian and Indonesian musicians tuned their violins.
“By collaborating we can build bridges to understanding. Never underestimate the power of music.”
That’s not the tune played by conservatives driving foreign policy. They argue that power means arms; after security, trade and defense have been settled, people’s hearts and minds will follow.
But this lady is no dilettante whose views can be waved away; she carries clout in the hard places where the notes aren’t heard but counted.
Galaise is as comfortable with a score as a spreadsheet. She’s on the advisory council of the Harvard Business Review and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
