Tehran Symphony Orchestra will feature the symphonic composition ‘Ermiah’ and string orchestra ‘Dar Jangal’ (In the Forest) at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, on July 16 at 6 pm.
The pieces are composed by prolific composer Mohammad Saeed Sharifian, 61, who is also the art director of the event. The performance will be conducted by Bulgarian conductor Ivan Illiev, the website harmonytalk.com reported.
“Ermiah is among the oldest names for Lake Urmia, mentioned in the Avesta, the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism. Urmia has given shelter to diverse ethnic groups who settled around the lake, including Assyrians, Armenians, Turks and Kurds, each with a language and religion of its own,” Sharifian said.
“In Ermiah composition, these peoples are placed side by side in symphonic harmony and unity. Kurdish, Turkish, Assyrian and Armenian melodies are performed in their original forms while they are played with local instruments from different regions across Iran, including ‘baghlama’, ‘duduk’, Azeri tar and kamancheh. It is the first event of this sort in symphonic music of Iran and elsewhere,” he added.
Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran and lies between the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan and west of the southern part of the Caspian Sea. At its full size, it was the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 sq km, 140 km length, 55 km width, and 16 meters depth. The lake has shrunk to 10% of its former size due to damming of the rivers that flow into it and pumping of groundwater from the area.
Lake Urmia, along with its once approximately 102 islands, is protected as a national park by the Department of Environment.
