The response of the fired musicians to the interview of the managing director of Rudaki Foundation

1 August 2023 – 1:13 pm Posted in Articles' List, Iranian Classical Music, News

Following an interview by Mehdi Salem, the director of the Rudaki Foundation, with the “Our Music” website, a response from the fired musicians was published in response to this conversation, which you read:
The National Symphonic Orchestra is not a place to discover talent Mr. Mehdi Salem, greetings and respect Since a few days ago, an interview with you was published by the “Our Music” website, some issues were discussed that surprised the experts and other readers and the reader’s mind goes to this side that your advisers deliberately or inadvertently knowingly or unknowingly have a wrong and misleading purpose. Therefore, we decided to accompany you as experts in this profession and art and those who have studied music in high school and university for nearly 20 years and have been present in the highest artistic degree of the country, namely the symphony orchestra, and convey some issues to your esteemed opinion: 1- In none of the orchestras around the world, salaries are paid based on position and seat, but based on the years of presence of that musician and experience in the orchestra. This is a misconception that the seat of musicians is like paying for a ticket seat and position of the audience. The musicians’ protest was based on the wrong principle of this issue. 2- Regarding the selection of musicians by the orchestra leader, it should be noted that any leader, especially the invited leader, cannot select an orchestra musician because the musicians are fixed orchestra hosts and guest leaders and incidentally this issue is reversed and this orchestra leader is first as a guest leader in one concert will be present and by the musicians and then according to the satisfaction of the audience will be selected for example selection of leader by musicians of Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is an example in this case.

Another issue that is worth mentioning is the examination of the orchestra in the whole world, in no orchestra in the world does the main body of the orchestra change since each city in each country has several orchestras of parliament, symphony philharmonic, ballet and opera One musician from one orchestra to another orchestra based on taste or better income changes location and does not lose his job.

Also, musicians retire after 30 years of being in the orchestra, so the orchestra directors publish a call for only one or more specific positions and vacant posts in the orchestra.
Expressing the issue that the Rudaki Foundation seeks to discover
talent; In the mind of the audience, reminiscent of talent show programs, but the symphony orchestra of the countries is not a place to discover talent, but every musician must go through the difficult way of studying this art and grow from the conservatory and music conservatory under the supervision of caring and professional teachers, continue his studies at the university and then, with a single exam in front of a jury made up of the musicians of the same orchestra, get into the orchestra and enter the professional world alongside other experienced musicians.
Pay attention to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which is one of the most professional orchestras in the world. In a country like Germany with a population of 84 million or America with a population of 340 million people, are there no other talents that can find their way to the mentioned orchestras?

They definitely have, but the directors know that the essence of an orchestra is that the musicians playing together and the experience of playing an orchestra and ensemble and harmony between the musicians, and the main body of the orchestra has a special value.

6- Since you mentioned receiving the musicians’ salaries during the Covid era, we must inform you that, as you know, the basis of musicians’ salaries is not based on the salaries of an expert in a profession and field; Rather, it is the lowest base salary and based on labor rights, and it should be noted that in 2014, the Rudaki Foundation did not pay the salaries and insurance of the musicians in full, and this year was not counted as part of their work records. What is the orchestra like in Germany? The interview of the main orchestra player and tympanist of one of the most professional orchestras in Germany (Gwandhaus Leipzig Orchestra) explains the correct method and the rule of the orchestra that is common in the world. You know that after 6 months of trying to improve the current situation, unfortunately, we faced the narrow-mindedness of the orchestra’s management, and contrary to the respected opinion of the Rudaki Foundation, none of them were looking for blackmail, but only sympathetic and concerned about the plight of the situation. We are the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

This entry was written by HarmonyTalk
Tagged: Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, is undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in the history of classical music. However, his life is surrounded by numerous myths and legends, some of which are not based on facts. This article explores five of the most common misconceptions about Mozart’s life.

Latest posts

From Past Days…

Women and the Music Environment in Iran

The life territory of the female-male relations in the Iranian cultural context is basically a domestic territory and not a social-living one in the labour and leisure domains. To prove this, it only suffices to consider the Iranian men’s viewpoints about women. For the Iranian men, there are three perspectives regarding the women: mother, sister and wife. Mother represents the emotional territory; sister represents the logical territory at home while wife represents the sexual territory.

HarmonyTalk Celebrates 11th Anniversary

April 6 marks the anniversary of launching HarmonyTalk.com. Back in 2004, HarmonyTalk was rather a blog dedicated to music. Gradually, however, it found its way to becoming a more sophisticated journal with an intensive but not exclusive concentration on classical music.

Lilly Afshar, Iranian Guitar Legend, passed away

The text you are reading is about Hamed Fathi, a guitarist and one of Lilly Afshar’s students, which was previously published on the Persian website HarmonyTalk.com:

“Guitar Memories” Released

The album “Guitar Memories” consists of the performance of baroque to recent era masterpieces, by Mehrdad Mahdavi, and is published by Tanin-e Honar Publication.

In this album there are pieces composed and arranged by artists such as: Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Anton Logy, Fernando Sor, Yuquijiro Yocoh, Leo Brouwer.

The 4th Iranian Festival of Music Websites and Weblogs

The 4th Iranian Festival of Music Websites and Weblogs was held in Niavaran Cultural Center, in Tehran, Iran on Feb. 28th, 2015. The initiator of the festival was Sajjad Pourghanad, Iranian music writer, researcher, founder of the festival and Persian setar and tar player.

Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri

The term “School of Vaziri” is often used in writings on Iranian music, but the exact meaning of the term is not clear; some of the authors have used the term to only refer to the group of Vaziri’s students, including a large group of his conservatory students and his Tar students such as Abolhassan Saba, Rouhollah Khaleghi, Ahmad Foroutan Rad, Hossein Sanjari, Heshmat Sanjari and others. But can we consider all Vaziri’s students as followers of his school of thought? This is definitely a mistake, because we know that some of Vaziri’s students have chosen a completely different path than that of Vaziri.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (III)

In heterophonic variant, two performers perform a single melody simultaneously and change it. Performing and changing a single melody simultaneously by two performers leads to the coincidence of different voices.

A note on “Illusion or Ingenuity” article

The author of the “Illusion or Ingenuity” article, who is apprehensive of the future of the Music in Iran, enumerates some symptoms of the music weakening in the country for example decreasing in the quality of the music as well as lack of the innovation in creating them, a gradual decline in the music public taste and the drop in the application of layered sound and polyphony in music. He explains that one reason for this gradual weakening might be our unawareness of the fact that we are not so intelligent nation. He believes that we, Iranians, have a comprehensive “Illusion of the high national intelligence “that make us ignorant of the unfavorable realities of our music and consequently no searching for the remedy is taking place. His point of view brings to the mind a patient who thinks he is healthy, therefore delays the treatment and finally is killed by the disease. The author also refers to the national difficulties which gradually will lower the national intelligence score such as the increased rate of the immigration and brain drain, low quality of the nutrition, incompetence of the education system and etc and predicts that the condition of the music of Iran might deteriorate in the future because of the mentioned illusion of its great status.

Non-profit “Microtona” Project Released

Microtona is a sixty-eight-page Booklet with personal comments by the contributing microtonal artists. The booklet also includes a DVD which consists of 8 original video tracks and 9 original audio tracks. The project is an international one featuring unpublished pieces by composers from Iran, Japan, U.S., France, Austria, Germany and Belgium.

Hossein Dehlavi: the Composer

With Dehlavi it is not all about fame but recognition. Hossein Dehlavi is not a popular musician (like pop singers) whom everybody might know when he is walking on streets of Tehran; however, he is recognized by both amateur and distinguished musicians of the country.