Exclusive: Tehran Symphony Orchestra suspends 40 rebel musicians
NewsForty musicians in the Tehran Symphony Orchestra who refused to work with the Iranian conductor Manuchehr Sahbai have been suspended from their jobs. Local commentators suggest the suspensions are aimed at undermining the orchestra’s existence.
The British conductor Mark Stepehnson, who has been in touch with the rebels, has sent us this account:
Orchestras play a vital role in the cultural life of a nation and, like sports teams, their performances on the international stage are a source of national pride. The Tehran Symphony Orchestra is no exception. Its musicians strive to perform great music by the world’s greatest composers at the highest possible level and they also teach the next generation of Iranian musicians. I can vouch for this, having had the pleasure of working with the musicians of the TSO as a guest conductor in January 2016, at the invitation of Maestro Ali Rahbari and the Roudaki Foundation, a concert of music by Beethoven, Grieg and Tchaikovsky at Vahdat Hall, the soloist was Iran’s veteran concert pianist Novin Afrouz. Our concert together took place on the day the US sanctions against Iran were previously lifted, 19th January 2016.
Since 2016 I have been developing the Internava Project, supporting young Iranian musicians and composers, traditional Persian music on original Persian instruments and Iranian contemporary music for ensembles and orchestras.
I understand there has been a breakdown of the relationship between the Iranian conductor Manuchehr Sahbai and members of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and that 40 musicians have been suspended for refusing to play for him. The conductor-orchestra relationship is complex, a symphony orchestra relies on the leadership and musicianship of a conductor, and when that relationship breaks down, it is usually
irreparable.
As I understand it, the government of Iran adopts a similar arms-length policy as the government of the United Kingdom, when it comes to the governance of the arts. Both governments have Ministries of Culture, but they devolve many decisions in specialist areas to other expert bodies, in the case of Iran the Roudaki Foundation, and in the case of the UK, the Arts Council. The parallels probably end there!
The TSO is not self-governed by its musicians, appointments and contracts are made by the orchestra’s management, but the orchestras’s conductor and guest conductors cannot function if they cannot command the respect of the musicians. It is exactly the same in a company, a school, a football team and many other situations. The authorities in Iran will understand that if you suspend 40 players in the TSO, it is
impossible to replace them in sufficient numbers at a high standard, let alone making the moral case for suspending them in the first place. I hope that a mediator can resolve the situation, reinstate the musicians who have been suspended and find a face-saving way
forwards for both the conductor and orchestra, whereby they can agree an amicable separation.
20th July 2023
Since when does the government of Iran really give a damn about music? The next news we’ll hear is that those renegade musicians were executed as “enemies of the state. Long live Iranian democracy!!!
We pray that the musicians of the TSO and their families remain safe.
Hopefully this development can be somehow amicably resolved. Frankly, I am surprised to learn there is a Tehran Symphony Orchestra at all. I’d have thought the fundamentalist Mullahocracy would have abolished this institution as a cradle of western imperial cultural decadence long ago.
I was taken by surprise back in 2015, when at the invitation of Maestro Rahbari I attended a rehearsal of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra rehearsing Beethoven 9 with full chorus and soloists. I had no idea an orchestra was allowed to exist in Iran playing such music. The following day I heard them rehearsing Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ – even more of a surprise! There are over 1,800 orchestras around the world and in some surprising places. The Universal Language of Music!!
There is more into the story as usual…
First of all, Sahbai is not qualified for the job. His resume is all made up with the pick up orchestras and random Eastern European band he has hired to record with.
Second, musicians who got fired had a choice of participating in auditions to keep their job but they refused. There is no such a thing in East as “tenured” member.
Great to hear from a former member of the TSO and of course you are very well informed. Indeed, more information is flowing. I understand this all stems from an incident two years ago when in a speech he made on stage at a TSO concert in Vahdat Hall, Manuchehr Sahbai made insulting and offensive remarks about the former conductor of the TSO Shahrdad Rohani, which was greeted with boos from the audience and the orchestra. The orchestra refused to perform the second half of the concert after the interval with the conductor, but returned to the stage and performed the rest of the programme without him conducting. The suspended players of the orchestra refusing to re-audition is most probably based on their belief that this is a political pretence, and cannot be justified on artistic grounds. Manuchehr, has to all intents a purposes become an accomplice and a puppet of the powers that be, who are acting on behalf of the regime. None of this bodes well for the future of the TSO, not to mention the livelihoods of these long suffering musicians, who deserve far better.
Does anyone know what happened to Farhad Mechkat, the conductor of the orchestra at the time all music was declared illegal in 1970’s as I recall. He was in Canada guest conducting at the time and was not able to return to Iran. I managed him then but have had no info of what happened to him since he went to Switzerland.
Hi,I think he lives in Washington or maybe Maryland or Virginia .Since the Islamic revolution he lived in Switzerland and after a few years in the United States and he left conducting as a full time job although he conducted some orchestras as a guest conductor .
The conductor is incompetent, a tyrant or both. It’s not unusual for symphonic musicians to complain about the but it’s very unusual for them to refuse to play. Usually, they will ignore the conductor or they may completely take charge of the interpretation in spite of them. The Iranian conductor must have been offensive or incompetent beyond their tolerance.
For many years in Europe, Sahbai taught oboe one day per week in a provincial school in Austria. He occasionally rented and conducted orchestras in Eastern Europe. I know him and I know that he neither studied conducting nor was he ever the conductor of the St.Gallen Symphony Orchestra. Everything he says is an absolute lie. The big question mark, why doesn’t Tehran Symphony Orchestra do research before hiring someone as a chief conductor.