Light and hope orchestra
The astounding Al Nour Wal Amal (Light and Hope) orchestra, an Egyptian based ensemble from Cairo is truly one of a kind. It is composed of 34 blind girls, with all four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The girls learn to play their musical parts separately without the need to read the notes while performing, and without the very essential dependence on the “baton” of the conductor.
Unable to read music as they play, the orchestra’s musicians memorize it, typically carrying around 45 pieces in their heads at any one time, among them works by the Egyptian composer, Ahmed Aboeleid, and classical European pieces by Mozart, Brahms, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and others.
Light And Hope Association’s Mission
The primary aim of Al Nour Wal Amal (Light and Hope) Association is to fulfill the rights of blind girls and women by providing them with free education, literacy programs, vocational training, and job opportunities in order to develop their potentialities and their special abilities such as musical talents, to ensure their physical and psychological health and to allow them to develop their own identities and become self-dependent integrated members of the society.
Today, the Association cares for 300 girls and women. The Music Institute Orchestra began as a group of 15 girls, and over the years
developed into a full Chamber Orchestra becoming the most famous part of the Association. Several conductors have contributed to its activities. During the last twenty years, the Orchestra was trained and conducted by the late Maestro Ahmed Abul Eid, who had succeeded in developing special techniques and methods to enable the girls to perform as an orchestra without the need to read the notes while performing, and without the very essential dependence on the conductor’s Baton.
Please Share and Support This Beautiful Initiative:
Light and Hope Orchestra’s Facebook Page
Light and Hope Association’s Web Site