ⓒ 2009 WATV

On August 2, the “2009 Summer Orchestra Music Camp” was held at the Elohim Training Institute surrounded by brilliant green foliage. During this six-day/five-night music camp, over 180 members including the Messiah Orchestra and the provincial chamber music groups, who gave praise to God through beautiful musical performances, took time to improve their qualifications and abilities as the performers.

During the camp, Mother visited the Institute. She comforted and encouraged the members in their efforts, calling the Messiah Orchestra “the world’s best orchestra that performs music for the glory of God.” Mother repeatedly emphasized that beautiful music comes from a beautiful heart reborn through God’s love, and asked them to perform the heavenly melodies that move the souls to be saved, faithfully upholding their mission as the musical performers for the gospel.

General Pastor Joo-Cheol Kim reminded the Orchestra members of their duty, saying, “You have a priesthood of offering thanks and praise to God through your musical performances.” He also wished the camp to become a great opportunity for them to improve their faith, saying, “When all the members are united in love and play music with a sincere mind to glorify God, it will touch God and heal the wounded souls.”

ⓒ 2009 WATV

The members were divided into four sections in which they play instruments-strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion, and received intensive lessons from their guidance teachers, according to the camp schedule. They also formed twenty perfor-mance teams, and the members of each team practiced the appointed music intensively. Although they had some difficulties with playing the music, they were able to improve their performance and create a beautiful harmony day after day, while encouraging each other and praying for one another.

On the last day of the camp, the musical performances were staged. The members of each team went on stage, and displayed their musical skills which they had improved. They also listened carefully to other teams’ performances and applauded them heartily.

After the musical performances, the Orchestra members expressed their impres-sions, saying, “We realized God’s power again, seeing that the provincial chamber music performers’ abilities had remarkably improved in just a short period of time. We will also try harder to glorify God all the more through our mature faith and advanced musical performance.” The provincial chamber music players also expressed their ambitious hope, saying, “Thanks to encouragement from Heavenly Mother and support from our brothers and sisters, we were able to play even difficult songs well. As Mother told us, we will be united with each other and display the glory of God through beautiful musical performances.”

The Messiah Orchestra, which is about to become a 120-member orchestra in order to keep in step with growth in the gospel, and provincial chamber music groups will continue to improve their musical skills in various ways such as holding concerts, so that they can continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God through more gracious performances.