Free Republic

If music is the universal language, then the message emanating from a Steinway concert grand piano at a concert today in Baghdad, Iraq, was one of friendship and support. The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert today at the Baghdad Convention Center since its new grand piano arrived last month. Steinway & Sons offered to donate the piano after the orchestra performed here with the Washington National Symphony Orchestra. Steinway responded to a National Endowment for the Arts plea for companies to donate instruments to the Iraqi orchestra, which floundered under Saddam Hussein. Once the donation was made,...

Iraq's National Symphony Orchestra has performed its first foreign concert for 11 years in the US capital, Washington. The musicians were flown to the US by the State Department, to promote wider efforts being taken to rebuild Iraq. US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell were among the star-studded audience. The concert marks the orchestra's revival, after it suffered under Saddam Hussein, UN sanctions and bombing during the US-led war against Iraq. The concert was held in Washington's prestigious Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Washington, described the event as a touch...

U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Norwood joined the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, playing the trumpet to relax after stressful workdays as senior military assistant to L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq. Norwood was impressed with the camaraderie of the 63-piece orchestra, an ensemble that once spent eight years "underground" after an Iraqi cultural minister banned them in the 1960s because he despised classical music. "They are like a big family, highly spirited and love their music," Norwood wrote in an e-mail interview from Baghdad. But he was astonished at the condition of the music library....

<p>WASHINGTON--What does it take to get some service around here?</p> <p>Several weeks ago, I was asked by this newspaper to write an advance article on the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra's visit to Washington. Their concert, which took place this Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center, included Maestro Leonard Slatkin, the (American) National Symphony Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. President and Mrs. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were in attendance.</p>

Tue Dec 9, 8:53 PM ET U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) speaks before a performance at the Kennedy Center, December 9, 2003. The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and U.S. National Symphony Orchestra, joined by guest cellist Yo-Yo Ma (news - web sites), performed a concert Tuesday evening as part of a cultural exchange program to help rebuild Iraq (news - web sites)'s cultural institutions. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Several musicians play traditional Kurdish instruments, including the double-reed balaban (third from right in the front row) under the direction of conductor Mohammed Amin Ezzat at the Kennedy Center on December 9, 2003. The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and U.S. National Symphony Orchestra, joined by guest cellist Yo-Yo Ma, performed a joint concert Tuesday evening as part of a cultural exchange program to help rebuild Iraq's cultural institutions. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst WASHINGTON - The Iraqi National Symphony performed for President Bush and a large audience Tuesday night, presenting another side of the nation whose image is shaped by daily reports of...