TEHRAN -- The 12th edition of the National Festival of Youth Music, which will showcase classical and regional performances by musicians aged between 15 and 29, will open in Tehran on Monday.

According to the director of the festival, Hooman As’adi, about 600 solo and group performances will be staged and over 90 master musicians will judge the performances during the event.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Abbas Salehi in a statement published on Sunday called the festival a path to the future of Iran’s music.

“The National Festival of Youth Music shows our identity to the world,” the statement added.

“The festival is an event where the talents of the young musicians and the roles of their masters in training them can be showcased. The event is a bright path to the future of music in Iran and can display our identity and culture to the world the best way,” it added.

In a press conference held at the Music Office last week, virtuoso of the Persian stringed instruments, Hossein Alizadeh who collaborates with the organizers as a jury member, said that he believes it is the young musicians who can make the cultural future of the country.

He said that despite an official disagreement with music in the country, the families get more interested in encouraging their children to learn music.

“The word ‘young’ bears a feeling of hope and energy in itself,” he added.

Alizadeh also said that in the current time the number of female musicians who are able to perform Iranian music is much more than the men.

“But since they cannot find ways on stage, the men have more public appearances. The art of music is one of my sacred things and I will never attend a festival if it enforces sex segregation,” he asserted.

“If you say we have 10 good male singers I would introduce 100 good female singers to you. I know that many female singers have never accepted to attend the concerts arranged exclusively for females. We have not issued these laws and will never obey them,” he had noted.

The Iran Music Association is the main organizer of the festival which will be held at several halls in Tehran until September 9.

Photo: Young musicians perform at the closing ceremony of the 10th edition of the National Festival of Youth Music at Vahdat Hall on September 15, 2016. (Mehr/Mohammad Moheimani)

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