Al-Assad house for Culture and arts opens today
Syria, Local, 5/7/2004

Under the patronage of President Bashar al-Assad, al-Assad house for culture and the arts will be inaugurated today ( Friday) at 9:30 p.m..

Marking the occasion the director general of al-Assad house for culture and the arts, Nabil al-Lou, held a press conference. He said that the house's opening ceremony will be marked by several performances by the national symphony band for classical music, performances by the chamber music band for classical music and the Oriental music band. He said that the renowned Syrian Enana dancing group will give a special show dedicated for this occasion under the title " Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra."

Al-Lou continued that festivities of the house's inauguration will start on May 9th through June 30th. These eventful artistic and cultural days will include musical evenings and theatrical performances including a special theatrical show by the renowned Syrian actor Ghassan Masoud under the title of "Diplomats."

Part of the inauguration's festivities, the house will also host the second gathering for music institutes in the Arab states and the conference in charge of preserving Arab musical heritage. He said that this event is carried out in collaboration with the Arab League Education, Culture and Scientific Organization ALECSO and the first conference on this issue was held in 2003 in Istanbul. Worthy mentioning that al-Assad house for culture and the arts is situated in the downtown of Damascus within a geographical space hosting several cultural monuments, laying near al-Assad library, the Arab language complex center, the Damascus University and the TV and radio station headquarters.

Renowned Syrian Maestro Misak Baghbiderian, the commander of the Syrian national symphony said that to have a Syrian national symphony "has been our very dream and obsession for generations," especially Sulhi al-Wadi and former minister of Culture Najah al-Attar. However, such a dream has become an actual reality now, he commented.

He explained that that two masterpieces will be shown "Carmen" and Sarsaat by Mary Arnaout and a song " You, birds " will be chanted by Lubana Qintar.

On his ambitions for the band, he expressed hope for its continued success.

Nevertheless, the director of the national band for Arab music Issam Rafe' said that the "inauguration of al- Assad house is a special and dear event," hoping that the artistic performance will meet the expectations of the viewers.

Al-Lou said that the al-Assad complex for culture and the arts is built on an area of 45,000 square meters and was completed at a total cost of 2 billion Syrian pounds, noting that this new cultural monument is a giant project with very sophisticated technical and artistic equipment.

He continued that the complex is composed of three main theatres. The largest is the Opera house which can provide 1500 seats, then the medium size theatre or the Drama hall which includes 750 seats and the small theatre of 350 seats. He explained that every and each hall is designed to accommodate a certain artistic band or realm of art, according to the theatre's stage.

He indicated that the house's premises is surrounded by an outer space that can host numerous cultural and artistic activities including seminars, art exhibitions and lectures.

Previous Stories:
  Damascus: a car dismantled over suspects of being booby trapped   (5/4/2004)
  Shaam 10th IT exhibition opened   (4/30/2004)
  Damascus symposium to enhance EU - Syrian heritage dialogue   (4/28/2004)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search