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It is a long-cherished plan and an ongoing adventure: the Dresdner
Sinfoniker will travel to Jerusalem and the West Bank at the end of May
2013 to perform the »Symphony for Palestine« by the Iranian composer
Kayhan Kalhor together with Palestinian and Azerbaijani soloists.
The work is dedicated to Juliano Mer-Khamis, the murdered director of
Jenin’s Freedom Theatre, as well as to the eleven-year old boy Ahmed
Khatib, shot dead in 2005 by an Israeli soldier, who mistook his water
pistol for an armed weapon. His story went around the world, because his
parents donated Ahmed’s organs to five Israeli children.
Inspired by these tragic events, the great Iranian composer Kayhan Kalhor
combined in the »Symphony for Palestine« classical Persian melodies
and elements of Arabic folk music with the sound of a European string
orchestra. The orchestral piece includes traditional oriental instruments
such as Arabic violin, Oud, Kamancheh, Darbuka and Qanun.
For many years now, the Dresdner Sinfoniker have 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.
Despite numerous obstacles they will travel to the West Bank and set a
significant and unmistakable example for the unifying power of music
with their »Symphony for Palestine«.
Artistic director: Andrea Molino
Dresdner Sinfoniker with Mehri Asadullayeva (Kamancheh), Kamil
Shajrawi (Arabic violin), Nermin Hasanova (Qanun), Emil Bishara (Oud),
Maen Ghoul (Percussion).
»Symphony for Palestine« is sponsored by the ›Kulturstiftung des Bundes‹,
the city of Dresden (department of culture and heritage), the ›Kulturstiftung
des Freistaates Sachsen‹ as well as the ›Kulturstiftung Dresden der Dresdner
Bank‹ and is a co-production of the ›Dresdner Sinfoniker‹ and Ben Deiß.
The Tour of Palestine
In May 2013 the Dresdner Sinfoniker will take their project “Symphony for
Palestine” on a tour of East Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jenin. The tour will
be conducted by Andrea Molino.
Tour Dates:
30th May 2013 – Ramallah, Cultural Palace
1st June 2013 – Jerusalem, Al Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre
2nd June 2013 – Jenin, Cinema Jenin
The Composer
Kayhan Kalhor, born in Tehran, Iran, is an internationally acclaimed
virtuoso on the kamancheh, the Persian spiked fiddle. His performances
of Persian music and his many collaborations have attracted audiences
around the globe.
Kayhan has toured the world as soloist with various ensembles and
orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre
National de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned groups Dastan, Ghazal:
Persian & Indian Improvisations and Masters of Persian Music. Kayhan has
composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists and has performed
and recorded with its greatest instrumentalists. He has composed music
for television and film, most recently for the soundtrack of Copolla’s Youth
Without Youth in a collaboration with Osvaldo Golijov.
In 2004, Kayhan was invited by American composer John Adams to give a
solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and in the
same year he appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart
Festival, sharing the program with the Festival Orchestra. Kayhan is an
original member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project and his compositions
appear on all three of the Ensemble’s albums. A new commission for the
Kölner Philharmonic was premiered in October 2009.
Three of his twelve recordings have been nominated for Grammys, and
his Silent City CD with the innovative chamber ensemble Brooklyn Rider
was received with critical acclaim. He has a CD forthcoming with his new
instrument, the shahkaman, in Fall 2011 on the World Village label.
The Conductor
Andrea Molino, composer and conductor, was born in Turin and studied in
Turin, Milan, Venice, Paris and Freiburg. He nowadays lives in Zurich.
1996 to 2007 he was Musical Director of the Pocket Opera Company in
Nuremberg. His own projects »The Smiling Carcass« (1999) and »Those Who
Speak In A Faint Voice« (2001), about the death penalty (both in collaboration
with Oliviero Toscani), are examples of his commitment towards innovative,
multimedia-oriented music theatre.
2000 to 2006 Andrea Molino was Artistic Director of Fabrica Musica. His
multimedia music theatre CREDO, on ethnic and religious conflicts, was
premiered under his musical direction in April 2004 at the Staatstheater
Karlsruhe and then performed at the Stazione Termini in Rome with the
Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, at the World Summit of Nobel
Peace Laureates.
Since 2008 Andrea Molino is Music Curator at the Fondazione Claudio Buziol
in Venice. In October 2009, as Artistic Director of the World Venice Forum, he
curated the Festival »The Garden Of Forking Paths«. In the closing concert at
the Basilica dei Frari he conducted the Orchestra del teatro La Fenice in his
own multimedia concert Of Flowers And Flames, for the 25th anniversary of
the Bhopal disaster, in India.
As a conductor, he recently opened the concert season of the Teatro La Fenice
in Venice with the world premiere of Bruno Maderna‘s Requiem. At the
Teatro La Fenice he had already opened the 2005 edition of the Venice Music
Biennale with Heiner Goebbels’ Surrogate Cities and in 2007 he conducted
the world premiere production of Luca Mosca’s opera Signor Goldoni.
Since 2006 he works intensely with the Dresdner Sinfoniker on several
projects, amongst others »Hasretim«.
The Dresdner Sinfoniker
Dresdner Sinfoniker are amongst the leading symphony orchestras for
contemporary music. The ensemble, which is made up of members of
almost all of Europe’s most important orchestras, works together entirely
on a project basis. Along their way, the Dresdner Sinfoniker have managed
to bring together unexpected connections between the different genres of
modern music. Amongst their repertoire are composers such as Steve Reich,
John Adams, Gija Kantscheli, Awet Terterjan, Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin,
Mark-Anthony Turnage, Luis Andriessen and Tan Dun.
In their work, the Dresdner Sinfoniker create connections between classical,
jazz, rock and pop without surrendering to any kind of superficiality. In
2003, they attracted a great deal of international attention with the song
cycle »Mein Herz brennt« (My Heart Burns) by Torsten Rasch which was
inspired by the music and lyrics of the German rock band, Rammstein. The
orchestra‘s recording of this work was presented the Echo-Klassik 2004 award.
In collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, they recorded a new soundtrack
for Sergei Eisenstein’s legendary silent film, »Battleship Potemkin« on
EMI in 2004, with a further collaboration producing the much acclaimed
»Hochhaussinfonie« (High-rise Symphony) as the climax to Dresden’s 800th
anniversary celebrations in 2006.
In the eleventh year of their existence, the Dresdner Sinfoniker can look back
on a number of international concert tours and successful collaborations
with renowned solo artists and conductors, such as the Kronos Quartet,
René Pape, Bryn Terfel, Katharina Thalbach, Andreas Boyde, Peter Bruns
and Jonathan Nott. Amongst the challenges of the future, the Dresdner
Sinfoniker aim to continue to make multimedia an integral part of their
musical creativity.
Contact
Dresdner Sinfoniker
Bärensteiner Straße 30
01277 Dresden
Markus Rindt, Producer
Telephone +49 172 345 56 87
[email protected]
Benjamin Deiß, Producer
Telephone +49 172 71 565 77
[email protected]
www.dresdner-sinfoniker.de
www.bendeiss.com