From May 30 to June 2, the Dresdner Sinfoniker, led by Italian conductor Andrea Molino, will perform Symphony for Palestine by Iranian composer and kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor in Jenin, Palestine and Ramallah, East Jersusalem.
Joining the great German orchestra will be Mehri Asadullayeva (kamancheh), Nermin Hasanova (quanun), Emil Bishara (oud), Kamil Shajrawi on Arabic violin and percussionist Naif Serhan.
Musically, Kalhor's Symphony for Palestine transcends as many borders as the concert hopes to, itself. Combining traditional Persian melodies and elements of Arabic folk music with the grand sounds of one of Europe's foremost orchestras, this eclectic, multi-layered composition is a stirring opus--full of both sorrow and hope.
The work is dedicated to two Palestinians whose deaths drew international headlines: Juliano Mer Khamis, the murdered director of Jenin's Freedom Theatre, as well as eleven-year old Ahmed Khatib, shot dead in 2005 by an Israeli soldier who mistook the boy's water pistol for a loaded weapon.
Khatib's story traveled around the world because his parents donated their slain son's organs to five Israeli children.
The original Symphony for Palestine tour was scheduled for the summer of 2011, but alas, it was canceled in light of Mer Khamis's murder.
Mirko Nowak, the press coordinator for the Dresdner, told The New York Times that he did not anticipate any problems entering Israel to perform this piece.
"We are in contact with the Israeli government," Nowak said via telephone on Wednesday. "We will enter from Israel, not Jordan."
From Georg Solti's World Orchestra for Peace to Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Symphony for Palestine is the latest musical collaboration endeavoring to bring peace to the war-torn Arab-Israeli region.
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