Music cooperation from Brams to Einem in Syrian National Opera House
A concert in the Syrian National Opera Dar al-Assad comes as culmination of four years successful Austrian-Syrian cooperation in the field of modern music and composition. On 18 March, Damascus Conservatory Orchestra will present a concert program, which includes works by Hassan Taha, Zaed Jabri, Johannes Brahms, and Gottfried von Einem. Already in February the younger generation of Syrian musicians under the direction of Austrian conductor Ewald Donhoffer and chief conductor of the Syrian National Orchestra Missak Baghboudarian were engaged in intensive rehearsals of contemporary Austrian and Syrian music and its roots. For the first time the workshop is supported by the Austrian musicologist and composer Gerald Resch through theoretical preparation and analysis of the pieces. This year’s co-operation is also supported by the Gottfried von Einem Foundation. The workshop concert will be supported as in previous years by David Milliner, director of the Society for Contemporary Art and Music (AACAM), and documented. An audio CD of the concert will be available in limited edition on AACAM. The collaboration with the Academy of Music AACAM, which was launched in 2007 by the Austrian Embassy in Damascus,is fourth in raw in 2010. The aim of the cooperation is to offer the younger generation of Syrian musicians to have access to contemporary music and bring it closer on the basis of the practical implementation of the specific forms of play and sounds and colors. A detailed documentation of the previous workshops is available on the website of the Society for Contemporary Art and Music: www.aacam.at