But the much less noted National Orchestra is being disbanded, according to comments from musicians with the orchestra.
While the reasons for ending the life of that orchestra are not entirely clear, one cause appears to be financial.
The cause does not appear to be the cultural wars, however. The National Orchestra only performs Iranian traditional music fully in accord with the regime’s musical preferences.
It is the Tehran Symphony that performs Western classical compositions and that often draws the ire of hardliners who believe any music composed abroad should be banned from Iran.
The Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) last week quoted musicians with the National Orchestra as saying they have neither rehearsed nor been paid for the past three months. Several were quoted as saying their contracts had expired and had not been renewed.
No one had been quoted as saying they had formally been notified that the orchestra was being disbanded. They seemed to assume that from the lack of any summons to rehearse.
Radio Zamaneh quoted unnamed officials as saying the National Orchestra was not being disbanded but brought under one umbrella with other orchestras. But Arsalan Kamkar, one of the leaders of the National Orchestra, said the orchestra had been told no such thing and had simply been abandoned by the Culture Ministry.
The National Orchestra is state-owned and directed. The Tehran Symphony is a private organization.
The Associated Press last week erroneously reported that the Tehran Symphony Orchestra was being shut down, and that false news report bounced around the world.
The Tehran Symphony dates back to the 1930s and has a long history and international recognition, though it has had many hard times since the revolution. The National Orchestra was founded only in 1998 under the auspices of the Culture Ministry. It was led by Farhad Fakhredini, who resigned in 2009 after the post-election protests erupted. He was quoted then as saying the situation in Iran was “incongruous and not conducive to listening to music or performing a concert.”
Although many Western articles about Iran since the revolution state that the revolutionary regime tried to abolish all music after the revolution, that is not true. It did crack down hard on Western pop music. But military tunes, including those composed by the US Marine Band leader, John Phillip Sousa, were played constantly during the Iran-Iraq war.
Western classical music has never been suppressed by the regime, although there are some hardliners who sometimes talk about banning it. The TSO is often under attack not just for its Western music, but because it is seen as attracting the interest only of the upper classes and as being part of its affection for everything foreign.
The TSO was allowed to make a short European tour in 2009. That did not turn out the way the regime had hoped as many people attended the concerts wearing green scarves to show their unity with the protesters in Iran.
