‘QPO will keep on growing — just like Qatar’

Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra Executive Director Kurt Meister has seen the
orchestra come along since its founding in 2007. 

Classical orchestral music – in Qatar has been making an impression and pulling people from all walks of lives as audience for the last ten years. Similarly, the country itself has been making progress by leaps and bounds in all fields.
These views were shared by 71-year-old Kurt Meister, executive director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO), with Community in an interview Saturday night.
Meister, a German national, said, “I joined the QPO in June 2007 when the orchestra body was actually formed. Since then, there have been a lot of positive changes in Qatar and in classical music.”
Kurt Meister was nominated the managing director of the QPO in 2007 and in 2011 he was named the executive director of the orchestra.
Meister, who has spent his life in managing and running orchestral events, said, “In the beginning it was really hard and difficult to find audience for classical orchestral music in Qatar. Things however improved with the passage of time. Initially, we did not have halls and facilities to arrange our shows. Now the situation is lot better.”
Meister – a graduate of the Academy of Music in Munich, where he studied bassoon – added, “I have a lot of experience in orchestral music, especially in classical music from Eastern Europe. My experience in Qatar is however different. There is variety of audience and different kinds of orchestral music in Qatar. It is fast becoming a fusion of western and eastern classical music.”
He started his music career with commitments with the German theatres such as Aachen, Essen and Mainz. He then played the bassoon in the Bavarian State Opera from 1973 until 1989.
The QPO executive director noted, “Today we have over 140 people associated with the Orchestra and they come from as many as 20 different countries. We have bigger and beautiful halls for performances at the Qatar National Convention Centre. The smallest of the halls has the capacity to accommodate 500 people and our programmes and concerts frequently sell out.”
Meister took over the management of the Bavarian State Opera in 1976 and was responsible for academy concerts with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Carlos Kleiber, Karl Böhm and Rafael Kubelik.
He further said, “It is rather hard to find [a stable] audience for the opera, as people come and go in Qatar. However, we have been witnessing increase in our audiences as more and more diplomats of different embassies are becoming our routine audiences. We at the QPO offer different kinds of music. Besides the classical opera symphonies, we present film music and video game music to cater to the interests of listeners coming from different cultures and countries.”
In 1989, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcast Company chose Meister to be their new managing director making him responsible for finding a new chief conductor in 1993 – Lorin Maazel. He worked with Lorin Maazel for 10 years and was associated with more than 450 concerts.
“In Qatar, I was assigned to bring experienced and entertaining conductors and musicians to play classical and traditional orchestral compositions. The QPO is fast becoming a place where music from the west and the east meet. [In Qatar,] we have Arabic orchestra conductors and musicians. We present Arabic orchestra concerts also. Both locals and the expatriates seem to enjoy Arabic music.”
In 1993, Meister was given a management role at the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Choir of the Bavarian Broadcast Corporation.
“The QPO has come a long way. We have toured 10 countries. The opera was titled as the 10th best in the world in 2014. We are the biggest opera by all means in the Gulf region. Other Gulf countries have operas but not as big and successful as the QPO,” the executive director said.
The experienced musician further noted, “Initially I thought I would stay in Qatar for two or three years. I aimed at establishing the opera and get it going. But here I am, 10 years later. I have really been enjoying my work and my stay in Qatar. The country is very peaceful and dynamic. My wife likes the place because she can get a variety of things under one roof, as things from across the world are available in Qatar.”
He said, “Doha has changed a lot since 2007. There used to be only two or three big shopping malls and good hotels back then. It has been a remarkable development in the last 10 years. The pace of construction work here is amazing. I believe the country will continue to make astonishing progress and so will the QPO.”