The International Horn Project

The COVID-19 Crisis has affected everyone adversely, but it has especially disrupted the lives of musicians and performers across the globe. As the Lockdown took hold, the arts were the first thing to go and will be the last thing to return. While life slowly regains a sense of ‘normalcy’ for many people, as restaurants open and restrictions are lifted, musicians around the world remain isolated and are still prohibited from performing — the world stage is eerily silent. There is a deep financial loss for all musicians, but perhaps the greatest loss has been the lack of companionship between friends creating something together. In response to this, our project seeks to fill this void, and to raise awareness of the plight of all artists during these difficult times.

We have evoked the horn’s power to call out and connect across great distances — to simultaneously express the loneliness that we are all feeling, but in a powerful and hopeful way, as our instrument is so beautifully capable of. Our inspiration harkens back to the alphorn, which has been used for centuries as a means of communication and as an expression of hope across the seemingly insurmountable boundaries of the Alps and the valleys below them. Working together with our composer/arranger Avishay Shalom, we have drawn on these origins to express solidarity and unity in our current situation — across closed borders, across a closed world — affirming the endurance of music in spite of these obstacles.

Our first film will be released next week, and we look forward to sharing our story with you all. Music has a life-long tradition as an internationally cooperative art form, and we stand in solidarity with our friends and colleagues across the world.
We will perform together again.