German orchestra to perform Kayhan Kalhor’s work during Palestinian tour

TEHRAN,April 24(MNA) -- The Dresden Symphony Orchestra (Dresdner Sinfoniker) is scheduled to perform the Symphony for Palestine by the Iranian composer Kayhan Kalhor together with Palestinian and Azerbaijani soloists in its concert tour in Palestine in May and June. The work is dedicated to Juliano Mer-Khamis, the murdered director of Jenin’s Freedom Theatre, as well as to the eleven-year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmed Khatib, shot dead in 2005 by an Israeli soldier, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, a sponsor of the project, has announced on its website. Ahmed’s story went around the world, because his parents donated his organs to five Israeli children. Inspired by these tragic events, Kalhor combined classical Persian melodies and elements of Arabic folk music with the sound of a European string orchestra for the Symphony for Palestine. The first performance will be held at the Cultural Palace in Ramallah on May 30 and the orchestra will travel to Al-Quds to perform at Al Hakawati Palestinian National Theater on June 1. The final performance will take place at Cinema Jenin in Jenin on June 2. For many years now, the Dresden Symphony Orchestra has been strongly engaged with contemporary Oriental music and culture, and this ambitious project sees them musically in the role of mediators between Orient and Occident. Andrea Molino is the artistic director the orchestra, which features Mehri Asadullayeva on kamancheh, Kamil Shajrawi on Arabic violin, Nermin Hasanova on qanun, Emil Bishara on oud, and Maen Ghoul on percussion.