ACADEMY OF ART PLANS TO ESTABLISH ORCHESTRA

Mehr News Agency, Iran
April 10 2006

TEHRAN, Apr. 10 (MNA) — The Academy of Art is planning to establish
an orchestra of string instruments, the Persian service of CHN reported
on Monday.

The orchestra, which will probably be called the Academy of Art
Orchestra, is to be conducted by veteran musician Shahin Farhat.

Farhat said that the orchestra would begin with fifteen musicians
and would perform at seminars held by the academy, adding that it
would record the music produced by the academy or other Iranian
organizations.

“The ‘Iran Symphony’, recorded in Armenia with the Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra, was sponsored by the Academy of Art, so the
academy must have an orchestra of its own so we don’t have to go to
Armenia for recordings,” he noted.

The academy’s program for this year includes workshops on publishing
old music manuscripts, studying the music of the Isfahan School in
the Safavid era, and Iran’s dastgahi music. In Iranian music, a set
of notes, their special characteristics, and an associated group of
traditional melodies that constitute a basis for improvised performance
is called a dastgah.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress