#434: SPOTLIGHT: Jorgen van der Sloot

#434: Jörgen van der Sloot

July 22, 2025

A Backbeat of Community

 Question for Jörgen:

Is there a specific song, song lyric, or music genre that is particularly meaningful and moving for you? What is it and in what way(s) has it had an impact? 

Jörgen's Response: 

In some of my training sessions I work with an opera singer to illustrate that if you want to get your message (vision/mission/strategy) across, you have to be fully committed to it and believe in your own story. The opera singer can not perform if she doesn't give it all, even in a performance for a small audience of 20 people in this case. One of the songs she sings is called 'Lascia ch'io pianga' from Händel's opera Rinaldo. It translates to 'Let me weep'. She sings it with emotional depth to really express what that story is about. 

The first time that she sang this song in the training, the song cut right through me and touched me deeply. I had to work really hard to push my feelings back and not burst into tears in front of all the participants of the training. I later came to realize that her singing that song at that moment in time, triggered emotions inside of me that had to do with my dad just being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. I hadn’t realized that his diagnosis had moved me so much. I played the song to my dad after this had happened to me. When the music stopped, he just looked at me, didn't say a word, but we both knew what it meant. That was a beautiful moment. I now move out of the room every time the opera singer starts singing the song, as it still touches me deeply.