War Child Peace Concert: Freedom4All

"Many children dream of palaces with kings and queens. Children of war dream of only one palace. The Peace Palace."

So opened Marco Borsato this unique concert in a world-famous place. Literally world-famous because the International Court of Justice is a resident of this Palace of Peace. A few months before, I had called the doorman of this imposing palace and asked if it was possible to hold a concert in front of the Palace of Peace? The doorman had heard crazy ideas before but never this one; "No, that is not possible.", was his reply. I asked him who the owner was. "The Carnegie Foundation", he replied. "Then may I speak to the director?"

Six weeks later we went into production. The consignor of this concert became War Child. We worked like crazy to make this concert a reality. Things went well and also all sorts of things went wrong. The Peace Palace hadn't realized, and we hadn't communicated well, that a concert doesn't just start at 8:30 p.m. but that the days before are already being built and there are 2 days of rehearsals! Well, that wasn't possible because there were all kinds of important court sessions going on about World Peace so whether it was also possible not to rehearse? Then you have to stay tight-lipped and say, "No, that's not possible."

We ended up rehearsing extremely briefly and in the middle of the night, between all kinds of court hearings. So every concert has stories like this, but on the night I stood in the hall of the Peace Palace with Marco Borsato and waited for the words, " 3, 2, 1 Start" - and Marco opened with the words "Many children dream of palaces... " I could only gulp and think: some dreams come true.