Stephen Tong. JP/Nurhayati

Question: Why did you pick the following pieces for tonight’s concert?

Answer: We wanted to present the whole set of Beethoven’s symphonies in one and a half years. So we started with No. 6, then No. 5, so people could know how beautiful, how strong and powerful Beethoven’s music is.  Then we will continue with No. 3, No. 7 … and finally No 9. So by the end, the whole set will have been presented to music lovers in Jakarta.

How do people find out about the concerts at the Aula Simfonia Jakarta concert hall?

Our audience are partly Church members and partly music lovers. We have already been performing for the last 21 years oratorios, cantatas and also sacred music.

Now that this new concert hall has been built, we try to present more authentic music, in the concerto, symphony, and sonata form to enrich the experience and enjoyment of good music and high-class musical entertainment and appreciation.

What is your vision and mission for the Aulia concert hall?

This place must become the new home for music lovers in Jakarta. In many other cities, concert halls have been built. But in Indonesia, we have never had a concert hall of international class. So we tried to make this dream come true by working very hard.

This is the only concert hall I know of not funded by government or big banks, but simply by music lovers, by our members and by our friends who came forward and helped us to make this dream come true.

How much time would it take to practice for a concert like tonight’s?

We practiced every week, for the whole year. After the show, we practice again. It is our task to train regularly. Let our players get accustomed to practice. But it is very difficult to start a new initiative here because serious music has long been ignored in this country.

Why? Because no money goes toward music. Money goes into personal pockets, to personal homes, for luxury cars, because people don’t appreciate and don’t have the education to understand serious music.

In England, France, the US or Canada, the government pays attention to building culture, to the cultivating of culture and to safeguard the inheritance of artistic principles. So we try to strengthen such feelings with concerts, to create musicians and we try to build a musical culture here.

What would you say to young musicians interested in learning about classical music?

If they are not educated with appreciation for good serious music, with educational programs, they will only go for rock and roll, cheap music, and forms of music driven by trivial or passing market fashions. But good music is like a diamond and is forever.

We want and intend to plan for better musical appreciation and introduce as well as perform some easily understood serious music to help create the desire for good music. But it will be a very very long journey.

We try to make all musicians know that we’re supporting them, to give them the opportunity to perform even though we don’t have much money and have to raise funds. We have never asked the government or any bank for money.

We have to subsidize from our own pocket. For every concert, we have to subsidize more than Rp 200 million. But we organize concerts because it they are an educational endeavor.

I am waiting for someone to be moved in their heart to willingly help us, which will open up more possibilities to educate people.

What do you hope people felt tonight?

People who know good music will understand there is still hope in Indonesia. For those who truly understand good music, they will be disappointed because the performance was not yet up to international standard.

Anyhow, to start something is very difficult, but it’s far better than never starting at all.

— JP/Julie Shingleton

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