Q Life Magazine Q Magazine June 2019 | Page 15

Qatar in Colour | | The 101 members of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra playing at their 10 th anniversary performance says Kurt. “But they flooded in. The auditions are now blind, with musicians playing behind the curtain, which means they are selected by the orchestra on musical ability alone.” the eighth century, and made from a coconut shell with one string. The auditions demanded a gruelling international schedule, taking place in London, Madrid, Paris, Moscow, Cairo, Zurich and Vienna. Once completed, the selected musicians came to Doha with their families. Of the original orchestra, 80 per cent of those musicians are still in place to this day. The orchestra goes on tour often, most recently to Russia and China. “It is important for an orchestra to be on tours” says Kurt. “This is how Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra can, in terms of its artistic level, be compared to the best orchestras around the world”. In 2016, it played a sold-out tour featuring Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in London’s Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms Festival. The orchestra has also developed its own distinctive style. Within the space of a few weeks, it performs everything from video-game music to a classical repertoire including the works of Haydn and Berlioz, and Arabic compositions. So how has the orchestra matured since its formation? As Kurt explains, during the philharmonic’s 10 th anniversary concert, it performed the same programme, including a composition by Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, as it did during its inaugural concert. For his part, Kurt has embraced Arabic music, including the rababa - the oldest Arabic instrument, dating from “But this time, the orchestra performed without a conductor. That has never happened. You could see 15