Music

Palestine Youth Orchestra

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Miranda Heggie

four stars

ON THE second leg of their first UK tour, the Palestine Youth Orchestra brought a varied programme of Arabic compositions, standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary classical music to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Comprising around 80 musicians between the ages of 13 and 26, from occupied Palestine and the Palestinian diaspora, the orchestra, in conjunction with its founding body, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, has played a pivotal role in promoting Western and Arabic classical music in Palestine, as well as bringing young Palestinians together through music-making.

Opening with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No 3, the orchestra produced a rich, mature sound under the astute baton of Sian Edwards. A different musical flavour then followed, as the orchestra was joined on stage by the young Arabic singer Nai Barghoti, whose stunning melismatic vocals gripped the audience. Opening with a song by the Rahbani brothers, from Lebanon, Grief And Waiting Are My Profession tells the story of a young Palestinian refugee, caught in the turmoil of 1967’s Six Day War. Equally poignant was her rendition of the Egyptian composer Zakaria Ahmad’s With Your blessing, O My Creator, which began with a haunting introduction from solo violin and oud.

Showing their versatility, the orchestra gave a rousing performance of Graham Fitkin’s Metal, so called because of the use of metal instruments within the piece, including un-tuned scaffolding being struck with hammers. Concluding the performance, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition saw some very sophisticated playing from the ensemble, with light woodwind depicting the Parisian Tuileries Park, and wonderfully murky brass evoking the eerie world of Paris’s underground catacombs.