Historically heavy rainfall and the subsequent floods left a trail of destruction in large parts of Wallonia on 14 and 15 July 2021. 39 people died, and tens of thousands of people were (temporarily) left homeless.

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Thousands of people were in need because of the severe floods. The Belgian National Orchestra, the Queen Elisabeth Competition and Bozar presented a short video message to show their solidarity with the victims, their families and the aid workers. Together they decided to cancel the traditional prelude concert to the National Day festivities because of the national mourning. However, they decided to share a touch of music as a comfort, hope and solidarity to the Belgian people.

The musicians are deeply saddened by what has happened, but inspired by Wagner's words 'music begins where words stop', Maestro Hugh Wolff and the Queen Elisabeth Competition decided to record Nimrod from the Enigma Variations, Op. 36 by Edward Elgar and the Nocturne for cello and orchestra No. 4, Op. 19 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The solo part was performed by Santiago Cañón-Valencia, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Cello 2017.

"While I was happy to be back in Brussels and making music with the wonderful Belgian National Orchestra and Maestro Hugh Wolff, I was also saddened by the tragic events that had taken the lives of many people.

I hope our music helped to comfort those who needed it."

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Thinkntalk recorded the audio for this experiences. Video capture was done by Eyes-screen.

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