Cinema Jenin – A Symphony

Musical tribute to Cinema Jenin

After being forced to close in 1987 following the first intifada, the heavily damaged cinema in the West Bank city of Jenin reopened in August 2010. In addition to movie theatres in Ramallah and Nablus, it is one of only three public cinemas in the entire West Bank. The director Marcus Vetter came up with the idea of resurrecting the cinema while filming his now award-winning documentary "Heart of Jenin". Together with Ismael Khatib, he initiated the reconstruction work and captured each stage of the process on film until it was completed. The material formed the basis for his current documentary "Cinema Jenin".
The Dresdner Sinfoniker, conducted by Andrea Molino, will perform the world premiere of "Cinema Jenin - A Symphony", written by the Iranian composer Kayhan Kalhor in honour of the cinema and its rescuers’ courage and tenacity. In his work, Kalhor integrates elements of traditional Persian music, Kurdish folk music and folklore from various regions. Kalhor’s harmonically rich improvisations interweave beautifully with the classical European orchestra sound and form a fascinating acoustic symbiosis of Eastern and Western musical traditions. The composer, who happens to be one of the most famous kamancheh players in the world, will perform in the concert, playing Middle Eastern instruments with four other musicians. The evening is also the opening of the TonLagen Festival in Dresden.

The Dresdner Sinfoniker will accompany Marcus Vetter’s documentary Cinema Jenin on a tour through Israel and the West Bank in the spring of 2012.

Artistic director: Andrea Molino (CH)
Artists: Dresdner Sinfoniker, Kayhan Kalhor (Kamancheh), Kamil Shajrawi (Oud), Ali Bahrami (Santur), Sa‘ad Mohamed Hassan (Arabic Violin), Shane Shanahan (Percussion).

Venue and schedule:
Dresden, Hellerau - European Centre for the Arts, 1 Oct. 2011
Israel, Spring 2012