Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra

The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO) began as the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra in 1944. It performed for approximately two years and was disbanded after Albert Chaffoo left Iraq and returned to London to continue his musical career. Many members of the former Baghdad Symphony later formed the future Iraqi National Symphony.^[1][2][3] The orchestra became officially known as the Iraqi National Symphony in 1959 when its members began to receive a salary from the government. The INSO was abolished by the Iraqi Minister of Culture in 1962 and rehearsed underground until 1970, when it was re-established.

Over the next ten years, the Orchestra toured France, Spain, Algeria, Lebanon and Jordan,^[4] and hosted guest musicians and conductors from many countries. But during the 1980s and 1990s many musicians, plagued by financial hardship, left the country to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Although its home theater was burned by looters during the April 2003 invasion of Baghdad, the orchestra performed a concert in Baghdad in June 2003 and subsequently traveled through northern Iraq, recruiting new members.^[5]

In December 2003, the orchestra performed a joint concert with the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center in Washington, co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department. President George W. Bush and First lady Laura Bush attended the concert, and Colin Powell introduced the orchestra.^[6]

The INSO is currently managed and conducted by Karim Wasfi.

Members

 

French horn players at a concert of the orchestra in 2007

Representative of the diversity of Iraq, its 90+ musicians now include Shi'a, Sunni, Kurds, Turkoman, Armenians and Christians, as well as six women, one of whom is the first American woman to join in the history of the orchestra.^[7] Due to rising sectarian divisions in Iraq some musicians sit away from each other at rehearsals.^[8]

Famous attendees

• Aida Nadeem

References

1. La Jolla Light Newspaper,April 22, 2010.
2. cite web url=drchaffoo.com.
3. . Archived from the original on 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
4. . The Independent. 2003-12-12. Archived from the original on 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
5. http://www.allthingsstrings.com/News/Comment-Opinion/Musicians-For-Harmony-s-Mission-to-Baghdad 2016-01-26 at the Wayback Machine Strings Magazine
6. Colin Powell (2003-12-09). "Remarks at Performance of Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra".
7. Phyllis McIntosh. . Coalition Provisional Authority. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
8. "Iraq's orchestra: The melody of life and death". The Economist. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

• Edward Wong (2006-09-30). "World View Podcast". New York Times. (audio)
• . PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. 2003-12-10. Archived from the original on 2014-01-21. Retrieved 2017-09-01. (video)

External links

•  Iraq portal

• CultureConnect photographs from the Kennedy Center concert^{[permanent dead link]}
• , Matthew Guilford, member of the U.S. National Symphony
• The Sweet, Sweet Sound of…What, Exactly?: The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra Goes to Washington 2018-06-22 at the Wayback Machine, Anastasia Tsioulcas