World String Ensemble, led by maestro Harout Fazlian, delivered a scintillating performance on Saturday (26 February) at Expo 2020’s Dubai Millennium Amphitheatre, where a group of talented international musicians came together to take the audience on a musical journey across the globe.
The unique orchestra played traditional instruments – the sarod from India; oud and kanon from Arabia; kora from Africa; cimbalom from Romania; and the guzheng from China, as well as violins, a unique harp guitar and percussion from India and Cuba. The symphonies took the visitors on a journey across the world, as the sounds of the distinctive instruments complemented each other, and came together in a universal language of music.
Fazlian, Music Director at Expo 2020 Dubai and principal conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, introduced the dynamic musicians, and said: “I want to start and finish with the same score – the Spanish song, ‘Farandol’ – because I believe that life is a cycle, when there is a dawn, there is sunset, and then a new dawn again. The Expo was built around the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai], with the ring found at the Expo site, and the circular Al Wasl dome. It is perpetual, life goes on, all of us are one and connected.”
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