Last Concert for Tehran Symphony Orchestra

Sent in by Laurie Cronin.  This is a very sad article about the Tehran Symphony Orchestra ... not only financial but hard-line ideological pressures are stopping the music.

http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/entertainment/iran-orchestra-finale-rings-of-hard-line-pressure/nSrfX/

Laurie writes:  'If classical music is so dead, how come musicians are still willing to risk so much to perform it, and audiences to hear it?   One answer is that in an oppressive regime, it is often the only form of protest – in the universal language.'

Tehran Symphony Orchestra rehearsing in Roudaki Hall, 2010.  Photo Associated Press

A different article from the Associated Press reports that the Tehran Orchestra was just reactivated last year, following a two year break.  The orchestra's woes are blamed on the faltering economy, the sanctions from the West, and the collapse of Iranian currency.  But players say that the orchestra suffers mostly from mismanagement and lack of government funding from the country's oil profits.  No one in government cares about the 80-year old institution, which is the oldest orchestra in the Middle East.  Decades-old instruments have not been replaced, players receive very low pay, and many receive no pay.