Doha: In the presence of H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture was officially inaugurated at the Katara Cultural Village Opera House on Friday, January 15, 2021, with a special concert by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) and the US Air Forces Central Band (AFCENT Band). The event was hosted by Qatar Museums and the United States Embassy.
Introducing Friday evening’s concert were H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, Minister of Culture and Sports, Qatar; Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Ambassador of Qatar to the United States; and Ambassador Greta C Holtz, Chargé d’Affaires, United States Embassy in Qatar. The concert marked the beginning of a year of specially curated exhibitions, festivals, bilateral exchanges, and events to be held in both nations.
The launch follows the signing of a cooperative agreement on September 14, 2020 between Qatar and US during the 2020 Qatar-United States Strategic Dialogue in Washington. The Year of Culture programme was first launched in 2012 with Qatar-Japan 2012 followed by Qatar-UK 2013, Qatar-Brazil 2014, Qatar-Turkey 2015, Qatar-China 2016, Qatar-Germany 2017, Qatar-Russia 2018, Qatar-India 2019, and Qatar-France 2020.
Commenting on the concert, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa said, “Music truly is a universal language, speaking directly to the heart, as we learned once again through this stirring inaugural concert for the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture. We expect this Year of Culture to deepen the understanding between the people of our two nations, expressing our shared humanity and strengthening the already substantial ties between Qatar and the United States.”
The concert was led by Joo Young Oh, the recently appointed Concertmaster of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, who performs internationally as a violin soloist and member of the New York Philharmonic. The program, which began with the national anthems of both countries, featured a variety of Qatari and American compositions, including Rising and Spirit of Thunder (Dana Al Fardan), Take Me Home, Country Road (John Denver), Fanfare for the Common Man (Aaron Copland), Lullaby and Porgy and Bess Suite (George Gershwin), My Heart Will Go On from the film Titanic (James Horner), Al – Haneen (Nasser Sahim Nasseb), Adagio for Strings (Samuel Barber), and Tonight from the musical West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein).
Ambassador Greta C Holtz said: “The Year of Culture program provides an extraordinary framework within which our two nations can come together to celebrate our longstanding relationship and forge new connections through people-to-people exchanges.
Nothing could better symbolize the Year of Culture’s spirit of harmony than this musical collaboration between the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the U.S. Air Forces Central Band.”
H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali said that "it is important to nurture arts and culture as they play a key role in uplifting the values of human dignity based on freedom, justice and the acceptance of others regardless of their colour, religion and ethnicity. Arts and culture assist in the continuous discovery and promotion of knowledge and, alongside religion and social values, can be used as effective tools to instil morality."
Commenting on the opening, Aisha Ghanem Al Attiya, Head of Year of Culture, said, “These beautiful performances by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and U.S. Air Forces Central Band have given us our first experience of the rich and extensive slate of programs, exhibitions, and events planned over next twelve months, as our platform for new dialogues and bilateral exchanges.”
“I am pleased to join our partner Qatar Museums today at the official launch of Qatar-USA Year of Culture 2021, and to announce ExxonMobil Qatar as its platinum sponsor.” said Dominic Genetti, President and General Manager for
