BEIRUT — It’s rare that an event in the Lebanese capital starts on time. But at “exactly” 8:30 on Friday, as the program announced, the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra plays its opening notes. Some 700 people have come to sit on wooden benches in the church of St. Joseph’s University and listen to classical music. All concerts are free.
The orchestra was started by Walid Gholmieh in 1999, and by 2000 the Lebanese Symphony Orchestra was a fact. “He was a very good organizer, he managed to organize an orchestra in what is basically an organizational hellhole,” says former member Nabih Bulos. The orchestra is one of Lebanon’s only state-sponsored cultural institutions; the ministry of culture pays the salaries, while friends of the orchestra contribute for music stands, and the purchase of instruments.
Initially, the orchestra was just composed of Lebanese, but it was a chamber orchestra, comprising just 40-50 people. Gholmieh’s aspirations for a philharmonic orchestra meant expanding, and this forced the orchestra to look beyond Lebanon’s borders. The current orchestra, with 103 members, is more than 60% foreign. The majority is from Eastern Europe; a third is Romanian. What is striking is the absence of other Arabs; there are no Egyptians, or Syrians or Jordanians. Yet that is set to change; two Syrians will be joining the ranks next week, including Dana Debbous, the former concertmaster of the Syrian National Orchestra.
But what draws foreign musicians to the Lebanese orchestra?
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