Cultural Comment
Making the Wall Disappear: A Stunning Live Performance at the U.S.-Mexico Border By Alex Ross
2:30 P.M.
The San Diego Symphony’s performance of John Luther Adams’s percussion work “Inuksuit” at the U.S.Mexico border on Saturday transcended the geography of political separation. Photograph by Guillermo Arias / AFP / Getty
n Saturday, the percussionist and conductor Steven Schick looked through the wire-mesh fence that separates San Diego, California, from Tijuana, Mexico, and said, “Con la música nunca se puede dividirnos”: “With music, we cannot be divided.” He was addressing a group of Mexican percussion players, who were about to participate in a singular cross-border performance of John Luther Adams’s hour-long percussion work “Inuksuit.” I was standing on the Mexican side, where the wall is adorned with
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