Conducted by the veteran composer Farhad Fakhreddini, Iran’s National Orchestra performed for the first time after a four-year hiatus at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall in the presence of well-known artists on Wednesday night (June 10).
The orchestra, which resumed rehearsals three weeks ago, comprised close to 70 instrumentalists, playing Persian traditional string and woodwind instruments, and included members from the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.
Keyvan Saket, eminent tar (Persian traditional instrument) player, accompanied the ensemble along with traditional vocalists Salar Aghili and Mohammad Motamedi, MNA reported.
A total of 16 memorable pieces, all from prominent national composers, were rendered. The final piece, a duet by the vocalists, was the famous ‘Oh, Iran’, which many Iranians equate with the national anthem.
Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, head of Management and Planning Organization and government spokesperson, Hossein Fereydoun, special assistant to the president, Hessamodin Ashna, cultural advisor, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, foreign minister, Ali Jannati, minister of culture and Islamic guidance, Ali Moradkhani, art deputy, Pirooz Arjmand, director general of the music center of the ministry of culture, and Kamal Karazi, former foreign minister, were among those who attended.
Artists who participated in the first official performance of the orchestra included conductor/composer Loris Tjeknavorian, composer Kambiz Roshanravan, musician/ composer Mohammad Sarir, and traditional singers Sediq Tarif, Nader Golchin, Mohammad Esfahani, Bijan Bijani, and Abdolhossein Mokhtabad among others.
Iran’s National Orchestra was founded by Fakhreddini in 1998 and performed in different cities in Iran as well in Kuwait, China, and Switzerland. After performing for 11 years, financial constraints were the reason cited to disband the orchestra in the previous government’s tenure.
Under the auspices of the new government, cultural officials made efforts to remove obstacles in the way of reviving the two great orchestras.
