|
<< -- 2 -- Howard Smith 'MESSIAH' AS NEVER BEFORE
Five weeks before the historic occasion, Sakhalin's uncommonly revered
Governor, Igor Pavlovich Farkhutdinov, and sixteen key ministers of his
administration, perished when the Soviet Mi-8 helicopter from which they were
surveying the Kanchatka Peninsula to the north, spiralled out of control and
crashed.
These men had, without exception, been vital and unstinting supporters of
the Pacific Rim Music Festival of which Messiah was the key event.
Now they were gone the festival was thrown into disarray and the island
plunged into mourning.
A last resting place for helicopter crash victims; former Sakhalin Governor I Farkhutdinov and fellow ministers. © 2003 Howard Smith
|
In the weeks that followed, piecing Handel's masterpiece together seemed
rather like playing outdoor chess at the height of a typhoon.
Continue >>
Copyright © 27 November 2003
Howard Smith, Masterton, New Zealand
|
