Tehran Symphony Orchestra must have permanent conductor: Entezami

The music and poetry office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has recently come up with the idea of running the Tehran Symphony Orchestra using guest conductors, yet this is not the musical policy in any other country in the world.

The office announced on July 1 that the Tehran Symphony Orchestra no longer had a permanent leader and that in the future it would be led by guest conductors.

The idea was highly criticized by experts, especially Nader Mashayekhi, who still deems himself to be the orchestra’s permanent conductor.

He has stated that he only heard of his dismissal via the media and has not yet received any official notice.

Mashayekhi, who used to be based in Austria, was invited and assigned by Iranian cultural officials to conduct the orchestra in 2005. Just a few months previously, his counterpart, Ali Rahbari, had quit because of financial problems and changes in the cultural policy.

According to Entezami, an orchestra should be conducted by a permanent leader and a guest conductor is only occasionally invited to lead particular performances.

“An orchestra cannot wait for another guest conductor after each set of performances finishes. I believe that it is essential that the Tehran Symphony Orchestra has a permanent conductor. However, it seems that the decision has been made and we will have to wait to see the result,” he told Mehr News Agency.

Entezami continued that such changes do nothing to reduce the problems surrounding the art of music, saying, “In fact, they add more problems. The Tehran Symphony Orchestra has undergone great changes in the past six years and serious assessments must be made. As the policy-making council is making all the wrong decisions, the orchestra will get nowhere.”

RM/MA

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MNA