The Iran-Italy joint concert at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on August 10-12 is hosting Italian guest conductor Damiano Giuranna, founder of the World Youth Orchestra.
Initiated by the WYO and organized in cooperation with the Roudaki Foundation, the 3-day event is titled ‘Sounds of Italy for Iran’.
“This was an exciting offer, to visit Iran for a joint collaboration. I have a in close contact with Tehran Orchestra for about 10 years and have had several Iranian students, but this new connection with Iran’s minister of culture and Islamic guidance and the Roudaki Foundation has opened new horizons for cooperation,” said Giuranna, in an interview with khabaronline.ir.
Giuranna, 52, has been influenced by great directors such as conductor Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) and violist Bruno Giuranna, 82. He is now the artistic director of the WYO, and has received the presidential medal from Italian President Sergio Mattarella “for his international representations and realization of ideals of peace, brotherhood and youth.”
“The venue for the concert, Vahdat (literally ‘unity’) Hall, is such a fitting choice for its name, because this international event is bringing together nations in unity,” he stressed.
The WYO comprises musicians from around the world including France, Germany, the US, Turkey, Russia, and Italy, and was nominated UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2002.
Tehran Symphony Orchestra conducted by the prominent Shahrdad Rouhani, is collaborating in the concert.
A Fine Group
Giuranna sees members of Tehran Orchestra as strong and skilled. “I believe they have made a fine group of music players.”
He is mostly interested in classical music, but is also a fan of Indian and Arabian music. “I have listened to Iranian music, traditional, but have not yet connected with the country’s pop music,” he added, noting that the Indo-European music played by Italy’s ‘Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia’ in Rome, is similar to what is also found in Iranian music.
The concert will include pieces such as 12th Symphony by Giuseppe Verdi, Edward Elgar’s Violin-Viola Duet, Chopin’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and symphonies by Antonin Dvorak and Camille Saint-Saens.
The WYO has toured Germany, Ireland, the US, Malta, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, Slovenia, Estonia among other countries.
By establishing the World Youth Orchestra, Giuranna has offered the world a new idea of musical compositions. He has thus combined his dedication to music with his concerns about social causes.
“Connecting with someone speaking a different language is difficult, but I have enjoyed working with Tehran Orchestra since the very first day,” he says. “I will leave Iran with fond memories. I’ll tell people Iran is filled with love.”
