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Irish conductor to lead Tehran Symphony Orchestra

Iran Materials 24 November 2010 10:50 (UTC +04:00)
Irish musician Derek Gleeson will lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra (TSO) as a guest conductor.
Irish conductor to lead Tehran Symphony Orchestra

Irish musician Derek Gleeson will lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra (TSO) as a guest conductor, Tehran Times reported.

Gleeson, who is currently the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor, began rehearsals with the TSO performing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 on Monday, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported.

He is scheduled to conduct the TSO in upcoming concerts, which will be performed before Muharram and Safar, the lunar months during which any music performance is forbidden in Iran due to the mourning ceremonies for the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions.

Gleeson, 46, studied piano, percussion, composition and conducting at the College of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music both in Dublin, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna.

He also studied film scoring at the University of California in Los Angeles.

He has previously has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestra Da Camera Fiorentina (Italy), the Brohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), RTL Orchestra (Luxembourg) and several other orchestra around the world.

Gleeson has composed film scores for "The White Pony", "Irish Whiskey", "Moving Target", "The Doorway" and several other movies.

The Music and Poetry Office of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance decided to lead the TSO using a guest conductor in May 2010 when permanent conductor Manuchehr Sahbaii resigned.

Over the past two months, Gleeson is the second foreign conductor to be invited to lead the TSO.

The first was Matthias Kruger from Germany, who led the TSO in performances in Tehran in October. TSO's organizers were seriously censured by Iranian music critics for inviting the 30-year-old musician.

Afterward, Iranian musician Nader Mortezapur was invited to helm the TSO in several performances in Doha and Tehran.

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