One of the main themes of the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück 2008 will be this year’s Culture Capital of the Arab World: Damascus.
Several programme points present the cultural life of this city, which is amongst the oldest inhabited places in the world.
The composer Nouri Iskandar the Syria Bigband, the ensemble Wogoh, one of the oldest Syrian silent films with live music, a film programme on the theme of Damascus. The range of the programme with the title “Damascus in Osnabrück” is indeed very wide.
“Damascus – Culture Capital of the Arab World” is the official cooperation partner of this year’s Morgenland Festival Osnabrück.
The Radio Symphony Orchestra Munich will play several first performances at the opening of the festival on 19th September: a work commissioned by the Morgenland Festival and the Symphony Orchestra Luzern from the Jordanian composer Saed Haddad for Piano and Orchestra (soloist: Saleem Abboud Ashkar), the Moulana Symphony by the Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi (solist: Salar Aghili) together with the Concerto for Oud and Orchestra by the Syrian oud-player and composer Kinan Idnawi. The conductor is Frank Cramer.
Further highlights: Kiosk, one of the most popular Iranian rock bands, will give their first European concert in Osnabrück. Together with the Tehran underground band Dash they will put on a long night of Iranian rock music.
Under the title “Tehran Summer Classes” musicians from the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra will give work-shops and concerts in Tehran. The Osnabrück Youth Choir will also be taking part in the concert programme.
The Barenboim Said Music School in Nazareth is also continuing its cooperation with the Art and Music School in Osnabrück.
Impressum © Morgenland Festival Osnabrück 2008 
