Qatar
Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) is a permanent platform for people to send the
message of peace. It has been a creative forum with a harmonious blend of
diversity since 2008. QPO is comprised of 101 artists from thirty nations
and is part of Qatar Foundation’s Community Development Activity.
Be it symphony, concertos, opera arias and film, music touches
the hearts. It
inspires and soothes. Sometimes it becomes a healing touch for a wounded
heart. In loneliness music helps us to reach the fantasy world of peace and
love.
The power and influence of music can
cross the boundaries of region and cultures. Here, QPO realizes the pitch
and rhythm of sublime music in all sections. It is the world of music in all
its glory; composers, distributors, solo players and conductors join hands
for spreading the power of music to peace and love.
QPO was created to
enhance local community and culture within Qatar and throughout the region,
while also bringing the message of peace to the world. Its medium is the
union of eastern and western music.
Marcel Khalife
The
concert master is Anton Taslia, who spent a year in the Leipzig Gwandhaus
Orchestra in Germany. The musicians were selected during a series of
auditions in nine European cities and Cairo in late 2007, using principle
players of several major orchestras
among
ten jurors.
QPO performed “Arabian
Concerto” for its inaugural gala concert at the Qatar National Theater
in Doha on October 30, 2008.
It was a composition by Lebanese Oud Master
Marcel Khalife, who joined QPO as Artistic Adviser and resident composer. To
him, music is the sole common language of humanity; a message for peace and
positive dialogues. Arabian Concerto delve deep to touch the sublime soul of
musical mystery. The rhythm of Arabian Desert and the beauty of mountain
songs rejuvenate the spirit of audience. An invigorating cool breeze of
music is spread everywhere.
Qatar Philharmonic
Orchestra Palermo 2009
Kurt
Meister is the Managing Director of QPO. He has been a bassoonist and
veteran orchestra administrator, worked extensively with Lorin Maazel, then
Music Director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Under the direction of Nader Abbassi,
who became QPO’s Music Director in 2010, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra
celebrated their one-year anniversary on November 7th, 2009. It
is by enhancing cultural awareness amongst
its audiences that the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra seeks to promote greater
understanding about classical, oriental and
western music in Qatar and around the globe. Here, a musical journey marches
towards the world with a vision for a harmonious existence.
Marcel
Khalife, music is his message for peace and love
At a very
young age he exhibited a strong passion and love for sound and music. He
expressed it by banging on household items from pots and pans and playing
the strings of handmade chairs. His mother was the first person who realized
his talent and gift of music. She talked to his father about buying him a
musical instrument. This is when the oud entered his life for the
first time. His grand father was a fisherman
and he would sing songs of the sea. His songs also helped him to inherit a
musical passion in him.
Oud playing had been strictly
conservative. But Marcel applied new life and ideas to this music. The world
of Oud was expanded. In 1972, Marcel Khalife created a musical group in his
native village, Armchit, with the goal of reviving its musical heritage and
Arabic chorale. From 1972 to 1975, Marcel Khalife taught at the Beirut
National Conservatory of Music, public Universities and other local private
music institutions. During that same period, he toured the Middle East,
North Africa, Europe and the United States giving solo performances on the
oud.
He has composed several purely instrumental works like The Symphony of
Return, Sharq, Concerto Al Andalus- Suite for Oud and Orchestra, Mouda'aba
(Caress), Diwan Al Oud, Jadal Oud duo, Oud Quartet, Al Samaa in the
traditional Arabic forms and Taqasim, duo for oud and double bass which was
awarded the Grand prize of the prestigious Charles Cros Academy in France in
November 2007. His most recent work is Sharq, a choral symphonic composition
which was performed by the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Piacenza
Choir.
Marcel Khalife's compositions have been performed by several orchestras,
notably the Kiev Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Boulogne Billancourt
Orchestra, The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the city of
Tunis, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Italian Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and the "Absolute Ensemble".
Since 1974, Marcel Khalife has been composing music for dance which gave
rise to a new genre of dance, the popular Near Eastern ballet (Caracalla,
Sarab Ensemble, Rimah, and Popular Art Ensemble). His compositions for dance
include The Marvels of the Prodigy (1974), The Black Tents (1978), A shot of
Glory (1980), The Taming of the Shrew (1981), Echoes (1981), Summer Night’s
Dream (1992), Alissar, Queen Of Carthage (1997) and Andalusia (2000).
In June 2005 Marcel Khalife was named
UNESCO Artist for Peace for his artistic achievement and humanitarian
contributions. He has won many international awards for his musical
excellence. He has written many books on music. He published Al Samaa, a
collection of compositions for various traditional Arab musical
instruments (1981).Marcel has received more than seventeen awards.
He has two sons who are musicians, Rami Khalife, pianist, and Bachar
Khalife, percussionist
Can
music influence the world despite of the barriers of boundaries, languages
and cultures? Marcel Khalife has the real answer for this question. His
vision for a harmonious world is evident as his inspiring words.
“Music has no homeland. It is the sole
common language of
humanity that
has the potential to make up for the miscommunication that plagues
communities of disparate tongues, sometimes bent upon mutual oppression.
Ultimately, music does not lend itself to a division into Eastern and
Western because it is a single language, enunciated with different accents.
More aptly, one ought to speak of music’s East and music’s West, for music
itself is space and time, and at the center is the heart of life’s
experience.”
He believes in the positive aspects of
human life. To him music has something to say to the vast ocean of humanity;
that is the message of oneness and peace. This score envelops the local
materials available in the Arab world, a tradition that protects history and
culture from dissipation and banality. We harvest its expressive treasures
upon which we overlay modern methods of musical composition.”
Nader Abbassi
He says “My music is for the service of
humanity and is intended to present a serious and sincere work for those
tormented in the destructive war. My music was a sort of balm for those
wounds.”
