Afghan Youth Orchestra returns to NY’s Carnegie Hall & DC’s Kennedy Center for concerts featuring all-female Zohra Orchestra (Aug 7 & 8)

(July 2024) — This summer, the Afghan Youth Orchestra (AYO) returns to the States for the first time since its historic U.S. debut in 2013. The premier ensemble of the displaced Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), the orchestra comprises 46 male and female musicians aged between 14 and 22, whose diverse backgrounds testify to the strength and resilience of the Afghan people. Together with ANIM’s celebrated all-female Zohra Orchestra and conductor Tiago Moreira da Silva, AYO will perform traditional Afghan and Western classical music, on both Afghan and Western instruments, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as the final concert of the inaugural World Orchestra Week (Aug 7), and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Aug 8). Marking the ensembles’ first U.S. appearances since the Taliban’s return to power and ANIM’s subsequent flight to safety, these performances represent potent acts of defiance against the regime that has not only outlawed music but also imposed gender apartheid in Afghanistan. 

Eleven years ago, when AYO made its U.S. debut with sold-out Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center performances and a residency at Boston’s New England Conservatory, the Washington Post applauded the orchestra’s “message of hope.” The New York Times declared:

“Sometimes a concert is much more than a musical experience. This one ended with ‘Shakoko jan,’ an Afghan folk song, a rousing rendition that had concertgoers throughout the packed hall clapping along. The ovation was so boisterous that the piece was repeated as an encore.”

 Now AYO returns to New York and D.C under the baton of young Portuguese conductor Tiago Moriera da Silva. Performed on a combination of Western orchestral instruments and traditional Afghan instruments, including the rubab, sitar, tambur, and tabla, their program juxtaposes ancient ragas and folksongs with the conductor’s original arrangements of music by Brahms, Kodály, and Afghan composers Amir Jan Saboori, Ustad Din Mohammad Zakhail, and Ustad Nainawaz, the father of Afghan pop. AYO will give the U.S. premiere of Saudade do Afeganistão, a multi-movement work by composer and former faculty member William Harvey that traces ANIM’s turbulent recent history, and ANIM’s mould-breaking Zohra Orchestra will interpret songs celebrating freedom and women’s rights. At a time when women in Afghanistan are prohibited from working, attending school, or leaving their homes unaccompanied, Zohra’s performance sends a powerful message of resistance, embodying the unwavering spirit of Afghan women.

At Carnegie Hall, where da Silva makes his house debut, AYO’s performance represents the final concert of World Orchestra Week (WOW!), a new festival that brings together seven youth orchestras from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States for a week of cultural exchange and music-making with internationally renowned artists in New York. AYO will be joined on Carnegie Hall’s main stage by members of the European Union Youth Orchestra, and the program will be expanded to include accounts of traditional Sufi songs by ANIM’s Qawwali vocal ensemble.

 UK tour success
These U.S. concerts follow the success of “Breaking the Silence,” AYO’s first UK tour, which took da Silva and the orchestra to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall this past spring. As The Times of London reported, the Southbank Centre concert was “a moment to remember. … The musical works were upbeat and anthemic under the crisp beat of the conductor Tiago Moreira da Silva,” inspiring “a standing ovation.” In a five-star review, the Daily Telegraph concluded: “In all, the evening was a joyous revelation of the beauties of Afghan music – proof that it will not, indeed, be silenced.”

About Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM)
Since its founding in 2010 by Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM has been internationally recognized as “a great success story in the effort to renew cultural life and the arts in Afghanistan” (NPR). However, the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 made it a crime to provide Afghan girls with a secondary education, to teach Afghan boys and girls side by side, and to perform or even listen to music in Afghanistan. As a result, the coeducational school and its students were forced to flee their homeland. They have now relocated to Portugal, where they are once again free to pursue their artistic dreams and help ensure the future of Afghanistan’s rich but beleaguered musical heritage. After the ANIM students’ traumatic experiences, AYO’s current full international touring schedule represents a key step on the road to recovery.

Two documentaries chronicle recent chapters of the ANIM story. Produced by Voice of America, Symphony of Courage (2022) follows Farida and Zohra Ahmadi, the last two ANIM students to be evacuated from their homeland after the Taliban takeover. Both girls perform as members of AYO on the upcoming U.S. tour, and Symphony of Courage may be streamed on demand here. Directed by Ruhi Hamid and Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald, and produced by Peabody Award winner Sheila Nevins, Last Song from Kabul (2023) captures ANIM’s escape to Portugal and its efforts to rebuild the students’ lives as they start to play music again. Featured works include Zendagi Akher Sarayad, as performed by Zohra on the upcoming U.S. tour. Shortlisted for an Academy Award and nominated for the 2023 Critics’ Choice Best Short Documentary award, Last Song from Kabul is available on Paramount+.

For high-resolution photos, click here.
www.anim-music.org

Afghan Youth Orchestra & Zohra Orchestra: U.S. tour
Aug 7
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage)
World Orchestra Week (WOW!)
With Qawwali ensemble and members of the European Union Youth Orchestra
Conductor: Tiago Moreira da Silva
TRAD: Raga Pilo
TRAD: Raga Bhihag
Ustad SARAHANG: Tark-e Arezo Kardam (Qawwali)
TRAD: Peer Man o Murad Man (Qawwali)
TRAD, arr. Ahmad Zahir: Zendagi Akher Sarayad (Zohra Orchestra)
Ustad KHYAL: An Selsela Mo (Zohra Orchestra)
Amir JAN SABOORI, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: Sar-zamen-e-man
Sediq SHABAB: Pa Bismillah
SHANKAR-JAIKISHAN: Mera Joota Hai Japani
Johannes BRAHMS, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: 21 Hungarian Dances, No. 5
William HARVEY: Saudade do Afeganistão (U.S. premiere)
Zoltán KODÁLY, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: Intermezzo from Háry János
Nay NAWAZ, arr. Khaled Arman: Ay Nay Naway-e Jawedan
Ustad Din MOHAMMAD ZAKHAIL, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: An Afghan in New York
Michail THEODORAKIS, arr. Abdul Wahab Madadi: Watan Ishq-e-tu

Aug 8
Washington, D.C.
Kennedy Center
Conductor: Tiago Moreira da Silva
TRAD, arr. Ahmad Zahir: Zendagi Akher Sarayad (Zohra Orchestra)
Ustad KHYAL: An Selsela Mo (Zohra Orchestra)
Amir JAN SABOORI, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: Sar-zamen-e-man
Sediq SHABAB: Pa Bismillah
SHANKAR-JAIKISHAN: Mera Joota Hai Japani
Johannes BRAHMS, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: 21 Hungarian Dances, No. 5
William HARVEY: Saudade do Afeganistão
Zoltán KODÁLY, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: Intermezzo from Háry János
Nay NAWAZ, arr. Khaled Arman: Ay Nay Naway-e Jawedan
Ustad Din MOHAMMAD ZAKHAIL, arr. Tiago Moreira da Silva: An Afghan in New York
Michail THEODORAKIS, arr. Abdul Wahab Madadi: Watan Ishq-e-tu

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© 21C Media Group, July 2024