MELAL ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM AT PERSEPOLIS IN LATE SEPTEMBER

Payvand, Iran
Sept 12 2005

TEHRAN, Sept. 12 (Mehr News Agency) — Persia’s ancient capital
Persepolis is to host Iran’s Melal Orchestra for a three-night concert
series which will begin on September 28, the Iranian Students News
Agency (ISNA) reported on Monday. The orchestra will perform the
program Anitra’s Dance of the Norwegian composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg
(1843-1907) and some pieces composed by Romanian musician Bela Bartok
as well as the national anthem of Iran during the reign of the Qajar
dynasty king Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, which was composed by a French
musician.

The 85-piece orchestra also plans to perform folk songs of Fars
Province and compositions by Vivaldi, Mozart, and some Iranian
musicians, including Morteza Naydavud and Aref Qazvini.

Conductor Peyman Soltani has also announced that ten Armenian musicians
will accompany the orchestra for the shows.

The program is being held in line with an agreement signed by Soltani
and the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO).

However, Soltani said in early August that the changes that the CHTO
made to the contract may lead to the cancellation of the group’s
planned concert tour of major Iranian monuments.

According to the original contract, the CHTO had agreed to allocate
15 billion rials for the orchestra’s one-year concert tour and to
arrange the sound, lighting, and filming facilities at the monuments
where the performances were to be held. It had also agreed to pay the
wages of the orchestra and road crew and to cover other expenditures
of the programs.

The CHTO then decided to reduce the funding to 200 million rials for
only the concerts at Persepolis. According to the original agreement,
the CHTO was to purchase half of the tickets for all of the concerts,
but this article has been omitted from the new contract.

The group had been scheduled to continue its tour with shows at the
Chehel Sotun Palace in Isfahan, Ferdowsi’s tomb in Tus, Gonbad-e
Kavus Tower in Golestan Province, El-Goli in Tabriz, Dolatabad Garden
in Yazd, Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat near Shush (Susa), Shazdeh Garden in
Kerman, the ancient site of Ecbatana in Hamedan, and Takht-e Soleiman
in East Azarbaijan.