After a three-year hiatus, orchestra has been revived with an ambitious programme and a world-class conductor, Alexander Rahbari – and he says it’s all thanks to Rouhani’s administration

In its eight-decade history, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra has ridden out some turbulent events: a western-engineered coup that overthrew the democratically elected prime minister in the 1950s, the Islamic revolution, and war with Iraq.



Under the country’s previous president, the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this once glamorous music institution experienced one of its darkest periods when it was disbanded due to negligence by officials and financial stringency.

But now, the culture ministry has hired a world-class conductor and it is rising from the ashes nearly three years after it was shut down. Last month musicians took to the stage as Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 filled Tehran’s Vahdat hall at the opening ceremony.

“I walked on to the stage and the audience rose to its feet,” said Alexander Rahbari, the principal conductor. “I’ve performed for 40 years outside Iran and never seen a standing ovation before the performance. This was something totally different. It showed what having the orchestra back meant to them. I was close to tears.”

The front row was filled with dignitaries and senior officials, an indication of the support the new Iranian administration is throwing behind the group. Only President Hassan Rouhani was absent, due to other commitments. But his first deputy, the culture minister and a group of foreign ambassadors and high-profile politicians and artists were in attendance.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Hassan Rouhani Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

For an ensemble that had not performed in such a long time, Beethoven’s masterpiece was challenging, but Rahbari was determined they could deliver. “Symphony No 9 was only performed once for seven nights in the past 40 years, so when I told them we were going to perform that, they were in shock,” he said.

He added: “When musicians want to do something, they can do magic.”

The group is all-Iranian – 87 musicians and 70 choir singers, who performed the Ode to Joy in its original German. After the performance, the Dutch ambassador in Tehran, Jos Douma, tweeted: “Rahbari, orchestra and choir did a terrific job.” The president, too, thanked them on Twitter.

Rahbari, the Iranian-born music leader who has spent most of his life in Austria, is internationally known and has conducted more than 120 European orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic.

Now 66, he first conducted the Tehran Symphony Orchestra some 40 years ago under the late shah’s rule when the institution was in its heyday, hosting the likes of violinist Yehudi Menuhin and choreographer Maurice Béjart.

He left Iran a few years before the 1979 revolution because he believed the then authorities were only interested in big names and were neglecting the group’s Iranian core. He did not return for 30 years – and then only briefly, leaving again after Ahmadinejad was elected. Within a few years, the orchestra, whose members earned as little as a taxi driver, had closed down.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tehran Symphony Orchestra musicians rehearse in 2010, before the orchestra was disbanded due to lack of funds in 2012. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

“Now, it’s a completely different story,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity that we’ve never had before. He added that he is particularly delighted that the support comes from a president who is a cleric.

Iran’s clerical community have at times been at odds with music, especially in the early years of the 1979 revolution. But Rouhani promised to revive the Tehran Symphony Orchestra after being elected to office in 2013. “He has given a new life to the orchestra,” Rahbari said. “It is particularly important that he has done so at a time when the country is still suffering from unjust western sanctions.”

From next week, the orchestra will perform four big concerts a month, including Beethoven’s ninth every other week. Rahbari wants to train a new generation of Iranian conductors and will bring western operas, such as Sister Angelica, to Iran for the first time, presenting them in Persian.

A cleric told my worried mother: ‘I don’t know Mr Mozzzar but I’ve heard good things. I’m sure your son will be fine'

Despite the welcome he has received, Rahbari has not been immune to attacks from hardliners, who have previously condemned him as a western spy. In fact, fundamentalists and hawks have been vocal against the culture ministry’s new efforts and have managed to sabotage a number of recent concerts. Hardliners are particularly sensitive towards women singing solo, which is still banned in Iran. They are only permitted to sing while accompanied by male singers.

“Our religion is full of music, look at Ta’zieh [a kind of religious condolence theatre] or even reading the Qur’an, there’s music in that,” Rahbari said. “When I was a kid, I used to play Mozart. One day my traditional Iranian mum went to see the local mullah, asking him: ‘My son is playing someone called Mozzzar, is that OK?’ The cleric responded: ‘I don’t know Mr Mozzzar in person but I’ve heard good things about him. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he recalled.

Rahbari said in his 40-year career, his biggest wish is yet to come true. “I’ve performed in almost all major European cities but I wish one day I can take my own country’s symphony orchestra to one of these places, like London or Berlin,” he said. “That day is not far off.”