By Steven van Hoogstraten, Member of the Comite d’Initiatives.
This years’ celebration of the UN Day, 24 October 2016, will be marked by a solo performance of the well known argentine pianist Miguel Angel Estrella in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace.
Miguel Estrella is the founder of the “Orchestra pour la Paix” which visited the Hague in December 2014 for a tour of 2 concerts. Now Miguel Estrella will play “seul-en-scene” for a mixed audience of diplomats, international judges, other dignitaries and young students and even refugees.
His first concert on the Sunday 23 October will be a public event and it will take place in the Eglise Wallone at Noordeinde at 14.30 hours . Tickets can be obtained at the doors of the Church one hour in advance at 10,- euro a piece.
The background of Miguel Estrella , borne in 1936 and a long time human rights activist , is to a large degree determined by the period that he was in captivity during the reign of the argentine Junta. He was badly treated by this dictatorship, during the prison years his hands were ruined. Later he was a refugee in France, and – after the restoration of democracy in Argentina – he became his country’s ambassador to UNESCO in Paris (2003-2015) .
But he is first and foremost a highly talented piano player who was originally formed at the conservatoire of Buenos Aires. The concert is organized by a Comite d’Initiatives which comprises inter alia Human Rights prof. (em.) Theo van Boven, STL Head of Defence Office Francois Roux and his spouse Evelyne , ICJ Registrar Philippe Couvreur and the ambassador of Argentina Hector Horacio Salvador. The City of the Hague offers valuable support, and the coordination of the event is in the hands of the Carnegie Foundation, Erik de Baedts.
Miguel Estrella comes to life in the following quote from the Nouvel Observateur, the French weekly
“ Estrella n’est pas chaleureux, il est brûlant. Il déborde d’amour , ne concoit pas de relation humaine qui ne soit amour. On peut puiser en lui comme une fortune sans limite: il continuera de donner de lui meme, de sa musique, de son temps, de son eloquence…”
Both the concerts in the Peace Palace and in the Eglise Wallone will be unique experiences, with music from Wolfgang A Mozart ( Rondo en Re majeur) and Franz Liszt ( Sonate en si mineur) on the menu.
