An outstanding joint performance by Iranian and Italian musicians conducted by maestros Shahrdad Rohani and Riccardo Muti was greeted by rounds of applause from an audience of nearly 4,000 people at Palazzo Mauro de André, Ravenna, Italy on Friday evening 16 July.
The Friday show in the old Italian city was the last performance of the joint project under the title of ‘The Roads to Friendship’, following a similar performance in the heart of Tehran metropolis at Vahdat Heart the previous day.
Under the direction of conductor Shahrdad Rohani and Riccardo Muti, the orchestra opened the show with the national anthems of the two countries. Many Iranian reporters and audience present during the show believed that the Friday performance of the Iranian state song had been one of the most profound and outstanding version of the song that they had ever heard in their lives.
The show then moved into Giuseppe Verdi’s highly intricate and complex pieces that were masterfully adopted to heavy Italian operas by the Iranian ensemble.
Without doubt, Tehran Symphony Orchestra gave one of its most magnificent performances in this project and proved that Iranian musicians are skilled enough to have a profound presence in international events.
The evening came to a close with 15 minutes’ rounds of applause greeting the musicians, Shahrdad Rohani, Riccardo Muti, and other people who contributed to the organization of this beautiful performance.
Following the main program, the Italian host honored the musicians participating in ‘The Roads to Friendship’ with certificates of appreciation during a dinner banquet. The banquet was blessed with notes of traditional Iranian and Italian music performed separately by an Iranian and Italian musician.
Back in January at the 32nd Fajr Music Festival, Tehran Symphony Orchestra and the Puccini Festival Orchestra from Italy joined hands under the baton of maestros Shahrdad Rohani and Paolo Olmi, to bring a joint orchestra performance on the Iranian stage. The pieces performed by Shardad Ruhani during that performance included “William Tell” by Gioachino Rossini, his own composition “Persian Garden”, and “The Capriccio Italien” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. After intermission, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 was conducted flawlessly by Paolo Olmi.
Rohani has always emphasized the great cultural commonalities between Iran and Italy. For him, similarities should always take center stage to differences. “We are all the same and it does not matter where we have come from,” he had said during the performance in January.
Indeed, such intercultural activities will do wonders for bringing the people of the two nations ever closer to one another.
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