“For Philadelphia Orchestra principal trumpeter David Bilger, the chance to help arrived as a friend request,” writes Peter Dobrin in Sunday’s (1/10) Philadelphia Inquirer. Seventeen-year-old Ahmad BasetAzizi “approached Bilger on Facebook about a year and a half ago with an intriguing overture: Could he study with Bilger—via video, online, from Afghanistan? Bilger agreed…. The Afghanistan National Institute of Music, where Azizi is a student, no longer even has a trumpet teacher…. Interlochen [Arts Academy in Michigan] for which Azizi (known as Baset) auditioned via video—has offered him a substantial scholarship, but he cannot afford the rest of the expense, and so Bilger is working with others to cover the gap [via] a GoFundMe campaign…. Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin … chipped in $5,000.… The Afghan school’s founder and director, Ahmad Naser Sarmast … was attending a high school play in Kabul in 2014 when a teenage suicide bomber set off a blast a few feet away.… Sarmast survived, but his hearing was severely damaged…. Bilger and Azizi swap video lessons at least monthly…. The teacher said his student’s ‘current level is competitive with the best high school players in the U.S.’ ”
Posted January 11, 2016
Pictured: David Bilger watches a screen in Philadelphia as AhmadBaset Azizi plays in Kabul. Photo by Andrew Renneisen
