Resonance of Hope is an initiative to foster understanding and empathy between people from disparate backgrounds and cultures. Music is perhaps one of the most evocative ways of showing how at the most basic level we are all connected; every culture, throughout all of history, has valued music. It is the most powerful of all the arts because of the emotion that it stirs within all human beings. I believe that music can help promote respect and understanding between all the peoples of the world because of its unique ability to communicate despite barriers. The basic idea of Resonance of Hope was created by myself in 2013, and I was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Presser Foundation in the same year to begin the project. The money was used to commission pieces of music from six composers coming from countries with a history of conflict. There was one stipulation: each composer was asked to write their piece based on the folk music of a country with which their own nation was in conflict. The composers were paired up with each other as the following pairs of countries: Russia and Poland. USA and North Korea. China and Japan. The composers from the six countries are: Polina Nazaykinskaya (Russia), Norbert Palej (Poland), Wang Jie (China), Taguchi Motohide (Japan), Keane Southard (USA), and Cheol-Woong Kim (North Korea).
During the current political climate, I believe that it is imperative that we strive to settle our differences, and work together to make a better future and give hope for all following generations.