Unesco Artist for Peace Amine Kouider will conduct the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Unesco Artist for Peace Marcel Khalife’s Kanun Concerto tomorrow, at 7.30pm in Katara Cultural Village Opera House. Gilbert Yammine will be the guest soloist in a program that includes Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony and Smail Benhouhou’s Rihla.
Marcel Khalifé is a Lebanese music composer, oud master and singer. Completely committed to fair humanitarian issues, his revolution against oppression, violence and war, he transcends the struggle to a deeper essence to seek the liberation of man from all restrictions.
His name was associated with the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. He also played a fundamental role in the establishment and development of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra as an artistic consultant, composer and board of directors’ member. For the orchestra he has composed the Arabian Concerto, Symphony of Return, the Rababa Concerto and many other works.
The Lebanese composer wrote about the kanun saying: “The kanun reminds me of Al Farabi (or Alpharabius, a scientist of the Islamic Golden Age). Arabs back then used to welcome newcomers devoted to thought, philosophy, science and music. The sound of the kanun embraces me today, resembling a piece of diamond in that old time when a wise instrumentalist entered a place full of people and started playing music that enthralled them, then made them cry, then left them in a warm beautiful somnolence, sharing nostalgia, and left. Today, we borrow that beautiful melody to cry, laugh and rejoice within the Arab blowing imagination.”
Born in Algiers in 1967, Amine Kouider studied violin at the Algiers Conservatoire, then conducting in Marseille and in Paris. He continued his training at the Copenhagen Royal Conservatoire with Michel Tabachnik. At the same time he got a bachelor’s degree in musicology. After, that he studied with maestros Manuel Rosenthal in Paris and Ilya Moesin in Saint Petersburg. For two seasons, he was Valery Gergiev’s conductor assistant in the Kirov Opera House in Saint Petersburg, the Baden-Baden Festival, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic.
Gilbert Yammine began his studies in kanun and music at the age of 10 at the National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2000, he graduated with excellence and became a member and a soloist of the National Lebanese Orchestra for Arabic-oriental music. In 2003, he was named professor of kanun at the National Higher Conservatory of Music, Beirut.
Influenced by the Turkish technique of playing the kanun, which involves using ten fingers, he is credited as the first kanun player in Lebanon to have evolved the instrument’s technique by introducing the Turkish method into the Arabic-oriental style of playing.
The Philharmonic’s next concert will be conducted by music director-designate Han-Na Chang, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto, on June 1 in the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra promotes and performs western and Arabic music with the goal to inspire the children and adults of Qatar and the Arab world to create and enjoy music. In blending these cultures the Qatar Philharmonic extends a message of peace to the world.
The Philharmonic was founded in 2007 as a centre in the Qatar Foundation. It is composed of 101 professional musicians chosen in international auditions from 29 countries. The Philharmonic’s first music director, Nader Abbassi, was succeeded by Michalis Economou, while Han-Na Chang will become music director in September 2013. The orchestra has also worked with conductors such as David Afkham, James Gaffigan, Dmitri Kitajenko, Lorin Maazel and Marc Minkowski.
While the Philharmonic sows the seeds of symphonic music in the Arab region, it is a platform for music from the entire world. World premieres in the last year included Marcel Khalifé’s Return Symphony, Jean-Charles Gandrille’s Violin Concerto, Abdalla El-Masri’s Oud Concerto, Rami Khalifé’s Chaos for Piano and Orchestra and Houtaf Khoury’s Angel of Light Piano Concerto. It is an integral part of the Philharmonic’s work to host new and established composers, soloists and conductors of the Arab world.
The Qatar Philharmonic gives on average two performances per week at their home in the Katara Opera House, which it opened in December 2010 with the world premiere of Marcel Khalifé’s Rababa Concerto. Touring performances have included the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Vienna for the 50th anniversary of OPEC and the Syrian Opera House in Damascus.
Other performances in 2011-2012 included the United Nations General Assembly, the opening of the Katara Cultural Village Amphitheatre with music by Vangelis and the voices of Angela Gheorgiu and Roberto Alagna, as well as the 2011 World Petroleum Congress.
