Friday 28th of May saw this season's final edition of the highly successful Friends of ASD Chamber Music Series sponsored by IBQ. Over the last 8 months Qatar saw the series establish itself firmly as one of the finest cultural events in the country, thanks to the bank's support and the available pool of world class musicians assembled together by Qatar Foundation's Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. The series presented 7 diversely themed concerts exploring not only western classical tradition, but also Arabic folk music from across the region, as well as North American contribution to the genre.
This Friday's gala concert evening fittingly included Tchaikovsky's last chamber work "Souvenir de Florence", that engages both lyrical and virtuoso qualities of string players. Ukrainian born Pavlo Dovhan on the first violin demonstrated fabulous control, assured technique, warm sound and excellent leading skills in this complex piece that demands total collaboration from all members of this string sextet. After the intermission out came a chamber orchestra consisting of the many artists that took part in the series over the course of the season. Under the careful guidance of conductor Brita Fray they accompanied piano soloist Sonja Park in a sensitive, thought-provoking reading of Mozart's last piano concerto (number 27).
The very last piece in this concert's program was waltz king Strauss' overture to operetta "Fledermaus". All the stops were out and many more musicians came out on to the stage of ASD's Fine Arts Theatre, one of the finest performance spaces in Doha. More than 3 dozens of musicians from more than 12 different countries joined forces in a spectacular performance of this universal hit number by Austria's most prominent composer. Brita Fray's conducting skills stood to the test in what was probably the most memorable moment in the series' two-year history. Audience rose to its feet in a well-deserved standing ovation.
George Nasra, Managing Director of IBQ said: “At IBQ, we have been proud to serve as patrons of the fine arts in Qatar, and to offer music lovers here the unique opportunity to enjoy such world-class performances through our support of the Friends of ASD Chamber Music Series 2009-2010. The series have proved to be an important event in Qatar’s cultural calendar, and has brought to the stage some sensational musical performances over the last season.”
“As a leading bank in Qatar, IBQ is pro-actively focused on spearheading and spreading long term educational and awareness programmes for the welfare of the community and with a particular interest in young people. We are determined to partner with governmental and non-governmental entities to see the implementation of educational, cultural and awareness programmes that share common objectives geared towards the community we operate in. IBQ’s broader commitment to responsible corporate citizenship is demonstrated by our support of an extremely wide range of cultural, health and safety, educational, sporting and charitable initiatives. Our sponsorship of this event is fully in line with that vision and we look forward to joining hands with the ASD team next year to see this memorable event once again in Doha, “ added Nasra.
Ed Ladd, American School of Doha's director, who, following a brief instruction, also participated in the performance, playing the bass bell, gave a moving speech, thanking musicians, the public and ibq for its continuing support of fine arts.
