Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra

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The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO) is a government funded symphony orchestra in Baghdad. The INSO plays primarily classical European music, as well as original compositions based on Iraqi and Arab instruments and music.

The orchestra began as the independent Baghdad Philharmonic Orchestra in 1948. ^[1] The orchestra became officially known as the Iraqi National Symphony in 1959 when it began to receive a salary from the government. The INSO was abolished by the Iraqi Minister of Culture in 1962 and rehearsed underground until 1970, when it was re-established. Over the next ten years, the orchestra toured Russia, Algeria, Lebanon and Jordan ^[2], and hosted guest musicians and conductors from many countries. But during the 1980s and 1990s many musicians, plagued by financial hardship, left the country to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Although its home theater was burned by looters during the April 2003 invasion of Baghdad, the orchestra performed a concert in Baghdad in June 2003 and subsequently traveled through northern Iraq, recruiting new members. Representative of the diversity of Iraq, its 63 musicians now include Shi'a, Sunni, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrian Christians, and Turkomen, as well as four women. ^[3]

In December 2003, the orchestra performed a joint concert with the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center in Washington, co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department. President and Mrs. George W. Bush attended the concert, and Colin Powell introduced the orchestra. ^[4]

The INSO is currently directed by Karim Wasfi and conducted by Mohammed Amin Ezzat.