Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra – 10th Anniversary Concert

Musical greetings to all from MB.

The 10th-anniversary concert of the Qatar Philharmonic took place last night at the Qatar National Convention Centre. It was attended by Sheika Mousa, mother of the Ruler (Emir) of Qatar, and MB, mother of nobody. Sheika Mousa looked very well in her stylish abiya and posed for some photos at the evening’s end with some orchestral VIPs. But she did not get the pleasure of meeting MB. The humble MB much preferred to remain invisible lest he grab too much of the limelight.

Anyway…

It was a great night’s entertainment, made all the more so by the free barbeque style food and tasty desserts and juices provided at the interval for the many hundreds of attendees. MB particularly enjoyed the fried chicken, which was finger-lickin’ good. The appropriateness of fried chicken at a classical music concert was questioned by an acquaintance of MB, but that is far too deep a question to delve into in a short post such as this. Another time perhaps.

Anyway…

The music was conducted by famous Russian conductor Dmitrij Kitajenko, recently appointed Conductor of Honor. A very famous man in the world of the baton as most HX followers will be aware. Not!

Anyway…

The pièce de résistance of last nights event was, perhaps, Boléro, composed by the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). MB says ‘perhaps’ because every piece played last night was outstanding. If followers wish to learn a little more about the Boléro piece they can check out this link from Classic FM. An interesting extract from that link is the description of the piece from the composer himself:

I am particularly desirous there should be no misunderstanding about this work. It constitutes an experiment in a very special and limited direction and should not be suspected of aiming at achieving other or more than it actually does.