Sounding Jerusalem

It's summertime in Jerusalem and there are film festivals, dance troupes, music festivals, art shows and markets in abundance. Recently I attended a Chamber Music Festival called Sounding Jerusalem sponsored by the Austrian Music Encounter. They say, "Sounding Jerusalem is a concert series for the whole region of Jerusalem. It is our faithful dream to encourage people from all backgrounds and ages living in this area to join our concerts, to share their thoughts, visions and feelings with us and to become members of our sounding community." "During three weeks, about 75 excellent artists from all over the world will perform on the roofs and in churches of the Old City, beautiful Palestinian villages as well as in historic settings in West Jerusalem."One of the concerts was held at my church, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City. The concert, Sweet Viennese Dreams, was beautiful. Serenade no. 13 in G Major from Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Hayden's String Quartet The Dream in F Major, and Mozart's, String Quartet in A Major were the pieces. Above we are gathering on the veranda of Redeemer. The concert was in the courtyard below.
The final night of Sounding Jerusalem was to be an extraordinary event. All of the ensembles were to play from some of rooftops of the Old City where you could hear them all sounding from one rooftop to the other as the sun set. Our community gathered for dinner on the veranda before we went to the rooftop.

On top of Redeemer and the Old City markets - settling in.

We sat overlooking Haram esh-Sharif and the Mount of Olives.

Dusk in the Old City. To the left are the green lights of the Mosque of Omar. In the center are the two domes that are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to the right is the tower of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.

Moonrise over Jerusalem.

Good night Jerusalem