(ANSA) – Tehran, January 18 – Italian Paolo Olmi will conduct the first concert by a symphony orchestra from a Western country in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution in the country.
The concert, Thursday at the Vahdat Hall in Tehran, was announced by posters in the streets featuring Olmi and his Iranian counterpart, Shardad Rohani. The Italian musicians of the orchestra say they were stopped in cafes, on the streets and in markets by young people looking for tickets for the concert. “Musicians,” Olmi told ANSA, “are recognized by their instruments and they are invited for tea or coffee and then they are asked for invitations to rehearsals or the concert.
Beethoven’s music deeply touched Iranians. Our performers were all crying today at the end of the rehearsal.” Italy will have the honor of being the first Western orchestra in Iran since 1979, with 32 musicians from the Orchestra del Festival Puccini and ten from the Young Musician European Orchestra as well as 45 of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra will take part in the final of the 32nd Fajr Music Festival, the most prestigious of its kind in Iran, with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, “one of the most famous pieces in the world,” “It was the 2014 eulogy of Beethoven by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei that has made Western music more accepted lately. “Since then,” Olmi said, “national interest in classical music has increased significantly, which makes this project possible, intended to create the basis for dialogue, and which will culminate with the concert tomorrow.” The event was sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Tehran and the Iranian Embassy in Rome, as well as the Italian Institute of Culture in Tehran and the Iranian Cultural Center.
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