DOHA: The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will hold a total of 45 public performances for the 2011-2012 season, including world premieres and classical masterpieces, many of them led by its new music director, Michalis Economou. The Philharmonic will perform the world premières of Marcel Khalife’s Kanoun Concerto, Rami Khalife’s Chaos for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 and Philharmonic violinist Maias Alyamani‘s Around the Arab World in 80 Minutes. Music director Michalis Economou will share the podium with such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Marc Minkowski, Dmitri Kitajenko, Nanse Gum, James Gaffigan, Gerd Albrecht, Han-Na Chang and past music director Nader Abbassi. As always, Philharmonic concerts will showcase the finest musicians from the Arab world. The September 24 Opening Night programme begins with Al Saedi’s Festive Overture. Arsha Kaviani plays Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto on November 19 with Nader Abbassi conducting. Egyptian composer-pianist Omar Khairat returns for two performances on January 28 and 29. Feras Charestan performs Khalife’s Kanoun Concerto on March 10. And Simon Chaheen plays his own Concerto for Oud on April 7. Classical masterpieces range across the year. No fewer than four of Beethoven’s symphonies will be played: the Second on September 24, the Seventh on November 12, the Fifth on May 12 and the Third (Eroica) on June 30. Also featured will be Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on October 15, Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto on November 26, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade on February 11 and Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony on June 23. Lorin Maazel, for many years music director of the New York Philharmonic, will conduct Mahler’s First Symphony on January 7. In recent years the Qatar Philharmonic has offered a chamber music festival. This season that festival has been expanded to nine Wednesday concerts, approximately one a month. Among the works to be played are music director Michalis Economou’s composition, Pentalogia (December 13), Schubert’s Trout Quintet (February 15) and a chamber ensemble version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (June 13). Executive director Kurt Meister said, “We’ve sprinkled fun across the season. On February 4 the Greatest Hits of Classical Music will be selected by our audience. In May Robert Ross conducts a Night of the Proms. And I know our Qatar schoolchildren will love Peter and the Wolf, whether in English or Arabic.” The season begins September 24 when Michalis Economou conducts Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and runs through July 14, when Philharmonic musicians will be featured as soloists. Details are available at the orchestra’s website, qatarphilharmonicorchestra.org The Peninsula

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