Herbert Schuch and Pehlivanian: Doha show

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) will be joined by conductor George Pehlivanian and pianist Herbert Schuch on Saturday, when they perform a programme including Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Pehlivanian will also conduct Richard Strauss‘ Ein Heldenleben, and Issa Boulos will perform his composition Sama’i Nahawand with Baian Reda, Yassine Ayari, Rony Moser, George Oro and Taoufik Mirkham, explained a QPO spokesperson.
“Rachmaninoff was one of the last connections, if not the absolute last, between 19th century romanticism and modern times,“ he said, adding “his Paganini Rhapsody continued a tradition begun by Schumann and Brahms of writing variations on the 24 Caprices by the great violin virtuoso, Niccolo Paganini.”
Romanian-born Herbert Schuch has lived in Germany since 1988 and has played with the Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie K?ln, Danish National Symphony, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, RSO Wien, London Mozart Players, Camerata Salzburg, RSO Frankfurt, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie and Münchner Kammerorchester.
Lebanese-American George Pehlivanian was born in Beirut and emigrated to Los Angeles with his family, and went on to study conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and Ferdinand Leitner.
Executive director of QPO, Kurt Meister, said: “As always our audience will hear music of the highest quality. The music will be conducted by a Lebanese-American conductor.  They’ll hear Arabic music, Arabic instruments and musicians from the Arab world. And they’ll hear two masterpieces, one German and one Russian.”
The next concerts for QPO include a chamber concert of Mozart and Beethoven trios on January 18, while the Vienna Boys’ Choir will join the orchestra on January 21, 22 and 23.
On January 24 the Vienna Boys’ Choir will join the Philharmonic and Siwar JCC Children’s Choir for a family concert designed for parents and children.
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