Afghan National Institute of Music students and students of the Conservatory Calouste Gulbenkian take part in Midori’s International Orchestra Residencies Program
Midori’s latest International Orchestra Residencies Program (ORP) took place in Braga, Portugal in collaboration with the Conservatory Calouste Gulbenkian in late February and early March 2023.
Since 2022, the Conservatory has provided a home for the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), whose students and faculty were evacuated after the Taliban assumed power in 2021. The Taliban forbade non-religious music making in the country, took over the ANIM school and destroyed the music students’ instruments.
On March 5th, following two intense weeks of working with Midori, students from both the Conservatory and the Afghan Youth Orchestra took part in a concert.
The moving documentary “Symphony of Courage” tells the story of ANIM and of how its students and faculty were able to evacuate the country to continue their music education and to perform their music in an open society.
Read the UN Information Centre article UN Messenger of Peace: Midori’s artistic residency in Portugal with Afghan students and watch the interview with Midori about this project.
Read a feature article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Leading Violinist Midori works with Young Musicians from Afghanistan (in German).
