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  • 7 months ago
How the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra blends cultures on one stage

With players trained in different musical traditions, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra is reshaping how orchestral music is performed and experienced in the region.

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READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/29/how-the-qatar-philharmonic-orchestra-blends-cultures-on-one-stage

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Transcript
00:00Many things we do musically here in Qatar, we do it for the first time.
00:06And this first time keeps my interest alive and fun.
00:14Hi, I'm Joris Lanham. I'm the principal jumper player of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
00:18And welcome to the Qatar Opera House.
00:21This is basically our home. This is where the magic happens from the rehearsals to the very big moments.
00:27If you stick with me, I'll take you behind the scenes and show you what makes this orchestra tick.
00:36With a diverse group of musicians from across the globe,
00:39the Qatar Philharmonic brings together a wide range of skills and musical traditions,
00:44making the orchestra flexible and adaptive.
00:48This orchestra is really special.
00:50Because normally on symphony, orchestra plays symphonies.
00:53On opera, orchestra plays operas.
00:55Here we have to provide everything.
00:57We play one day opera, the next day we have symphony,
00:59Arabic program, video games, all the different kinds of music.
01:03And they play everything at a very high artistic level.
01:07Diversity directly shapes how the orchestra plays and thinks musicically.
01:19The musicians are well trained in different national schools, German, French, Italy and Russia.
01:26This brings a varied approach to phrasing, tone production, rhythm.
01:32This created a very flexible, adaptive ensemble.
01:38We are very diverse.
01:40So we come from many countries in the world.
01:42We've got players from Egypt, from Lebanon, from Syria, from Germany, Austria, Russia, Ukraine.
01:50This is just to name a few.
01:51I think I might be the only native English speaker in the orchestra.
01:54And I think that makes us also very versatile.
02:00Because we're able to play anything that you throw at us.
02:04We play pop music concerts.
02:06We play Arabic fusion with Western classical music concerts.
02:10And there's a lot of players in the orchestra who are good at multiple things and we use that as well.
02:30So this is my usual spot on stage and this is my trumpet.
02:33Now it might look small, but if I wanted to, it can definitely cut through the whole orchestra.
02:40What I love about performing here is that every concert feels completely different.
02:46We have different conductors coming in and I have to adapt to all the musicians around me
02:51and sometimes even the acoustics of the space.
02:53It definitely keeps me on the edge of my seat.
03:10Here you can find in the public classical music nerd sitting next to somebody who is coming to a concert for the first time.
03:21We entertain an extremely broad range of public and this has broadened also my music horizons
03:28and our musical horizons as an orchestra to be able to provide music for such a diverse audience.
03:42The Katara Opera House is a stunning venue with Italian design and Arabic touches.
03:47From the stage musicians feel the audience's energy shaping every note they play.
03:55From up here you get a real sense of how important the audience is.
04:00They can completely change the energy of a performance.
04:03Even before the first note you get a sense of the excitement, nervosity and energy in the air
04:08and we really pick up on that.
04:10An orchestra isn't the same without people listening to it and they are a huge part of the experience.
04:18We pack our instruments and then you go to your car and you meet members of the audience
04:22who say thank you very much.
04:23It was such a pleasure today.
04:25You have the chance sometimes to talk to them and get this feedback.
04:29And this I think is if people value it that these two hours they spend there, the money they spend
04:36and these two hours of music and sharing this moment together,
04:41if you have the feeling they value it and appreciated it,
04:44then this is the best you can get as an artist.
04:50The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, where different musical worlds meet on one stage in Doha.
04:59There we are.
05:00There are things never before.
05:01There are people who ì–´ë”” where everything they try to buy in.
05:02There are people who come around here AMareequali.
05:03But we can see that they value an audience,
05:04on homepage.
05:05There, we have people who come around here.
05:06We're not really thinking Synd Provides in New Mexico.
05:07There are people who live inå ´ oné­šcuz.
05:09There are people who live in constants of two people.
05:11We have no illusions that we actually live.
05:12We can Save that as an artistically pay for us.
05:14We hope that they are not to be anywhere.
05:15We don't lose their throwing sound and room screens was anything.
05:17We probably won't see in New Mexico-ization'
05:20A lot-arcturral.
05:22We will stay there.
05:23We can just meet Judith referee some Esperanza.
05:24It's a great place here.
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