TEHRAN – The female Iranian conductor Noz’hat Amiri will lead a concert along with the Naghmeh Baran National Orchestra during the 33rd Fajr Music Festival. 

The orchestra will be performing pieces composed by prominent musicians including Hossein Dehlavi, Homayun Khorram and Morteza Hannaneh at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on January 16.

Amiri conducted an orchestra founded by veteran composer Hossein Dehlavi in 2005, but her collaboration was halted for several reasons.

Amir returned to the stage with the Naghmeh Baran National Orchestra after a 10-year hiatus during a performance at Tehran’s Arasbaran Cultural Center last November.

In her recent interview with Musiqi-e Ma, an Iranian website for music news, she explained the reasons behind her absence.

“I was absent for 10 years. I was in a situation where the cultural support was below zero. I exerted great efforts in those years to find a proper repertoire and searched to find individuals to form a group. You know each group needs support to continue the activity, and now after 10 years my determined efforts have been successful.

“I am 57 years old. I am an individual who was actually born with the Islamic Revolution, considering my career. I am the child of this land and I expected to be treated like other children. My profession is difficult and requires technical knowledge.

“I know that the male musicians have not had better conditions, that is, the cultural policies have not been appropriate and there has been no thought given to fostering an educated generation over these years,” she has lamented.

The Fajr festival will be running from January 10 to 20 in different halls across Tehran. 

Photo: Iranian conductor Noz’hat Amiri (L) conducts the Naghmeh Baran National Orchestra in a performance at Tehran’s Arasbaran Cultural Center on November 30, 2017. (FH News)

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