| Issue 6
Qatar Philharmonic
Orchestra
A national orchestra
to be proud of
In its 10 th anniversary year, Executive Director Kurt
Meister talks about the creation and growth of the
Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
T
he soaring chords cut through the air like a lone
bird breaking the desert dawn. This is Qatar
Airways’ signature music, created by Qatari composer
Dana Al Fardan and played by the Qatar Philharmonic
Orchestra. It is instantly recognisable to any traveller.
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra has more than one
string to its bow, however. Founded by Her Highness
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar
Foundation – of which the orchestra is a member – the
orchestra plays an eclectic mix of classical and Arab
music, and modern show-stoppers.
Kurt Meister, Executive Director of the Qatar
Philharmonic Orchestra, has played a major role in
completing the extraordinary task of constructing a
world-class orchestra from scratch.
Originally from Germany, Meister was a member, and
subsequently manager, of the Bavarian State Opera for
14
21 years in total, and also worked as the general manager
of the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra. He was brought
out of retirement to form the Qatar Philharmonic
Orchestra.
“It was an incredible challenge,” he explained. “It was
June 2007, Doha was not known for any orchestra, and
yet I had to convince international musicians to come
here. But now, if you ask these musicians, they think of
Doha as their home.”
The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra brings together
musicians from 28 nationalities, including 14 Arab
members. Kurt filtered through an extraordinary 3,200
applications to find the 101 best musicians among them
and conducted up to eight auditions simultaneously. It
was a huge undertaking, as he only had seven months to
set everything up.
“At first, I was nervous we wouldn’t get the applications,”