Homs - Sana
The Ministry of Education's orchestra and choir troupe performed a musical and singing concert on the stage of the House of Culture in Homs this evening in a popular and official presence with the participation of fifty of its members, children and young people.
For about an hour, the band, led by artist Kamal Skeiker, presented songs, school songs, a link by the late artist Zaki Nassif, Nahwand music, international melodies, the melody of life by the artist Hussam Tahseen Bey, patriotic songs, and concluded with Shamiyat by the Rahbani brothers.
In a statement to Sana Al-Thaqafiyyah, Skeiker said that about ten years have passed since the founding of the band, and it currently includes about 160 members, from 6 to 17 years old, musicians and singers, considering that this band is the nucleus of most musicians in Syria who started their musical career from the school theater and the Ministry of Education band .
Director of School Theater and Artistic Activities at the Ministry of Education Adnan Al-Azroui explained that the orchestra and choir is one of four departments that the Ministry's School Theater Directorate works on, namely music, theater, folk arts and fine arts, indicating that today's concert is part of the music department’s plan for this year to implement tours of the Central Orchestra to the governorates. In Homs, he revealed that a festival will be held for school theater departments in the governorates' education directorates during next April separately, so that a central festival will be held afterwards, the date of which will be determined later.
In turn, trainer Dima Zainuddin praised Homs hosting the Orchestra and the Central Choir, expressing her hope that this band will be a starting point for forming similar groups in all governorates to enhance the musical culture between generations and create spaces of beauty and creativity.
A number of the band members expressed their pleasure to meet the audience on stage in Homs for the first time, including Samer Nasr, the "eleventh grade", who joined the group three years ago as a player, Naya Abu Shaheen, the "eighth grade" who plays the violin, and Raneem Abu Al-Fakhr, 13 years pioneer at the level of Syria. For two consecutive years playing the violin, Alaa Abu Al-Fakhr, "the tenth grade", has been playing cello for four years, stressing that the audience's interaction with their concert today will motivate them to continue training and provide the best.
Okay El Hassan