Tehran symphony orchestra to celebrate Yalda Night

Tehran Symphony Orchestra has set to celebrate Yalda Night (Yalda Eve) prior to the annual festivity.

Conducted by Iranian-American composer, conductor, violinist and pianist Shahrdad Rouhani, 62, the Persian solstice will be celebrated on December 20, anticipating the eve of the first day of winter.

The Ministry of Interior Auditorium in Tehran will host the performance from 9 pm.

The orchestra selection will include ‘The Carnival of Animals’ by French composer Camille Saint Saens (1835-1921) as well as ‘Peter and the Wolf' by Russian pianist and conductor Sergei Prokofiev.

‘Baroque Flamenco’ composed by American harpist and composer Deborah Henson Conant, 64, and the soundtrack of the movie ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ by American composer, conductor and music arranger Victor Young (1900-1956) are also on the repertoire.

The score of ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939) by Austrian-American composer Max Steiner (1888-1971) is the other pieces that will be covered in the orchestra.

Yalda Night, as the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, is commemorated on December 20 or 21 each year.

Yalda, meaning birth in the Syriac dialect of old Aramaic language, marks the birth of winter and the triumph of the sun as the days grow longer and colder.

MG/MMF