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How National Is the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra?

The Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, once consisting exclusively of Lebanese, now has 103 members, 60% of whom are foreign, mainly from Eastern Europe. Fernande van Tets reports that the dearth of Arabs is striking.
Italian Conductor Umberto Benedetti Michel Angeli conducts the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra during a concert at the al-Bustan Festival in Beit-Mery near Beirut on February 20, 2001. Michel Angeli treated the opening night crowd to a selection of time-honoured classics including Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a little bit of Mozart.

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BEIRUT — It’s rare that an event in the Lebanese capital starts on time. But at  “exactly” 8:30 on Friday, as the program announced, the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra plays its opening notes. Some 700 people have come to sit on wooden benches in the church of St. Joseph’s University and listen to classical music. All concerts are free. 

The orchestra was started by Walid Gholmieh in 1999, and by 2000 the Lebanese Symphony Orchestra was a fact. “He was a very good organizer, he managed to organize an orchestra in what is basically an organizational hellhole,” says former member Nabih Bulos. The orchestra is one of Lebanon’s only state-sponsored cultural institutions; the ministry of culture pays the salaries, while friends of the orchestra contribute for music stands, and the purchase of instruments. 

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